Monsters and Pirates
by sweetcupcake2234
Summary: all three are different. all three are hated. nobody wants them and the world will always despise them. but maybe, one day, someone out there will give them a chance at life. Dragon!Luffy Wings!Ace Vampire!Sabo
1. Scales and Wings

Ace knew he wasn't normal from the moment he could remember.

Sure, he looked normal if he hid _them_. and he acted normal, to a certain extent. But if someone looked too closely to the raven-haired child, they would see something that was definitely not normal. First off, he was raised by Mountain Bandits when his grandfather dropped him off there 'for his own good'. Secondly, he was the son of the late Pirate king, Gol d. Roger, making him a devil and a curse to the world. And finally, the wings were a dead giveaway.

Ace was a half-breed. And before you ask, no it wasn't a bird. His father was a human, looked and acted normal, as far as he knew, but his mother was a Fae, basically a human with wings. Most people have forgotten about them after the celestial Dragons hunted, killed or captured almost every single one for their _collection_. Now he was the only one left after his mother died giving birth to him.

The mountain Bandits all knew this, of course, he couldn't exactly hide his 'extra traits' until he was four. As a baby, his wings, white and as soft as a cloud, closed around him, protecting him from the elements and kept him warm. As a toddler, his wings were too weak to fold up and hide, they had to cut holes in all his clothes just so he could wear them. But when he turned four, Ace could finally stash his wings away and look, for all intents and purposes, human. He could finally leave the forest and visit that weird place he had seen in his exploring, Grey Terminal.

On his first visit he ran into a few old and stinky men, nothing he couldn't handle, he was stronger than the average human. They didn't have a lot of money on them and were easy to pickpocket, just like the Bandits taught him, but it was a lot more then he has had before. Immediately, he started a stash, somewhere he could hide the loot he collected from the dumb humans where he could hoard it all together and buy a ship and get off this god forsaken rock of an island when he had enough.

After half a year of visiting the Dump, Ace ran into _him_. he looked like a normal kid, well, other then that fact that he looked like a noble. But there was no way a noble would be out here, in a dump. Other than that, he looked like a normal kid, nothing like him, an Fae hybrid, but like one of the boys who were lucky enough and rich enough to attend school. He didn't like that, the lucky bastard, and he stole his money. The kid wasn't loaded, but he had a lot more then most of the people in Grey terminal.

But the weirdest thing happened, instead of attacking him or even retaliating, the boy looked at him and smiled. For god sake, he just stole his money! Why was this guy smiling at him! Ace growled at the boy, wanting nothing more then to tear him a new one. But he held back, he wasn't sure why but there was something about this kid, something he wanted to know, but he didn't know what.

"hi! My names Sabo, what's yours?" the polite kid said with a smile on his face.

Ace stared at the kid, probably his age, he thought, for a bit. "tsk." He said with a scowl, turned around and ran back into the safety of his forest. Humans were weird.

After that he avoided Grey terminal for a bit, he didn't want to see the weird kid anytime soon. But after a few weeks, he decided he needed to go back there, he was building some stuff and he needed building materials, wood and metal mostly, but they were always easier to get in grey terminal. It was always just laying around, there for the taking, and no one would care if he did.

Ace cut his visit short when the boy, Sabo, found him again. like before, he tried to strike up a casual conversation with him and like before Ace ran back into the forest. He still didn't know why he didn't just attack the guy; he was annoying enough anyway.

* * *

little did Ace know, Sabo had followed him into the forest, trying to find somewhere to sleep without having to be wary of every person around him. Sabo followed the Raven for a few days, still hiding away while thinking of a way to approach him without startling him into running away, back into the forest.

In his stalking, he discovered that Ace was very strong, easily going toe-to-toe with the giant tigers and bears in the forest, only coming out of the fight with a few minor injuries like cuts and bruises. After a fight like this, Sabo followed the unnamed Kid to a river. It was secluded and well hidden, also no crocodiles in it unlike all the other river systems he's come across so far. He hid in a bush far enough away from the boy that he didn't attract his attention, but close enough to watch if he disappeared again. it wouldn't be the first time the boy disappeared into thin air and it was a pain to track him.

At first, he did everything one would expect from a normal kid, washed the blood off himself and the dead boar he caught, he skinned and gutted the food, started a fire and got it cooking.

And that was were the normalness ended.

The raven-haired kid scanned the surrounding forest with a scrutinizing gaze, Sabo had to hide his head so he wouldn't be spotted, looking out for anything that moved. There was a rabbit across the river from him and when the raven saw it, he scared it away with a dull rock. He really wanted his secrecy if he was afraid a little harmless rabbit was going to tell everyone his big secret.

When he finished looking around for intruders, the raven's back started twitching, and that was when Sabo noticed there was two vertical cuts in his shirt, before he though it was just a tattered and old shirt, but now he can see it might have a purpose, what that is, was anyone's guess. The kid started rolling his arms in a wide circle, stretching his back and making it crack and groan. The kid smiled in pleasure, obviously the back stretch was nice.

And then the wings sprouted.

In a flurry of movement, the kids back went from completely bare to being filled with white feathers. Both wings stood up, as if stretching, they were very big, almost twice as long as the boy was tall, and looked very soft.

Sabo was so shocked by the sudden appearance of _wings_ on someone's back, he completely forgot about keeping quiet and hidden and instantly stood up and shouted in shock. Of course, this brought the attention of the boy, who immediately folded his wings as if to hide them, grabbed a pipe he had been fighting with and point it at his face threateningly.

"what do you want." he asked angrily, a scowl on his face. When he noticed eyes attached to his wings, he wacked him on the head, getting a yelp out of the blond, and moved his wings so they were hidden behind him. Sabo met his eyes when he repeated his question, a lot madder and angrier than before. "what do you want!"

"you have wings." Sabo simply said, still not over the shock of it all.

The Raven-haired boy's glare intensified, "tsk, and what about it." He looked ready to kill him, and in all honesty, he would probably be the same boat if he was in his position. Growing up with the noble taught him some certain things, one of which was that everything that was different, was bad. So if this boy had wings, he would be ostracized by everyone in society, doomed to never have a good, or even semi decent, life. Sabo would hate to be in his shoes.

But at the same time, he can relate.

He left his family because he hates the way they operate, he hates their lifestyle and the way they looked down on everyone who has less money or social statue then them, he hates every fiber of their being. Because of this, he can't return without being looked down upon by everyone else as 'the kid who went to Grey Terminal.' His family would scold him with beatings, done by the servants of course, don't want to dirty pure noble hands, before sending him back to his 'room' to learn his lessons so he will be beneficial to the family. Otherwise known as 'someone who can marry someone richer', that's just easier if they know how to read and write.

Sabo's eyes traveled behind the body of the boy he had been following, trying to get another glimpse of those beautiful wings again. it was all in vain as the other boy noticed and whacked him with the pole again.

"you have wings." Sabo said with awe.

"you just said that." Ace said, poking Sabo roughly. He really doesn't know why he hasn't just run the kid through, end it all. maybe he was waiting for the disgust and hatred that was sure to come, let it sink into his mind more that nobody wants him and never will. Prove to him that all humans are evil, and he will never be accepted, never have a family and never know the simple things like love and kindness.

Sabo's eyes glowed with awe and amazement. "that's so cool!" he almost yelled in glee, "can I see them! can I?! can i!? please?" he all but begged.

Ace, for his part, was gob smacked, wasn't he supposed to be afraid? To hate him?

"what the hell is wrong with you?!" Ace yelled.

Sabo blinked, calming down he asked, "huh?" very intelligent, Sabo, very intelligent.

"don't you hate me?! don't you despise me for my wings?!" Ace asked, obviously confused, angry and annoyed.

Sabo blinked in realization, "umm, no?" he said, not quite sure how he is supposed to answer that.

Ace narrowed his eyes at Sabo, it was clear as day that he didn't believe it for a second, Ace grumbled something under his breath. He stood back, letting Sabo get up, but kept his eye on him as he pushed Sabo towards the makeshift camp he had created. It was like he was a prisoner.

Sabo sat down, not afraid in the slightest and drooled at the meat slowly roasting on the fire, Ace glared at him in retaliation for eyeing his food and confusing him. after a few moments of silence, while Ace stared at him as if he was trying to find out all him inner secrets, Sabo spoke up.

"well, my name is Sabo. it's nice to meet you." he said, putting his hand out for a handshake. Ace eyed it carefully, as if expecting a knife to appear in his hand to stab him. when that didn't happen, Ace slowly and wearily took his hand, not firmly, he wanted his hand to be out of reach as fast as possible.

"Ace." Ace replied.

Sabo's smile radiated warmed and kindness. "hello Ace." He said, "hey, do you mind sharing that boar? I'm starving." He said as his arm retracted from the hesitant handshake.

Ace mentally debated it for a moment before throwing a chunk of meat at Sabo's head, he caught it. For the rest of the meal, Ace let his wings out and stretched then, moving the small but strong muscles to build up strength and power so that one day he can fly… or whenever his baby feathers fell off and his wings gained color.

* * *

After that, the two boys had become fast friends, Ace was happy that he met someone who didn't care about his extra appendages, and Sabo was happy that he met someone who cared about him, even if he showed it in the weirdest ways.

A few years passed and they fell into a routine, Ace would leave the Mountain Bandits just after dawn, they would meet up at the edge of Grey Terminal to spend the day scouring around for items they can use to build a treehouse. That was their end goal, to move out of the places they were currently living to a place they can live together, deep in the woods. Ace wanted to leave the Bandits and live his own life while Sabo wanted to get out of the cave he had found, sure it's nice and cozy, but it's so dark and lonely. Not to mention damp, all the runoff after a storm came to his cave and made him very wet, nothing he couldn't deal with, but it's annoying.

They were ten now, both of them were the same age, and their treehouse was almost complete. They had finished all the walls, the floor and roof, added some things they think they would need and so forth. A few finishing touches like paint, a door and some curtain, and it would be done. They were planning to move in a week.

And that was when _he _came.

Garp, Ace's grandfather by choice, not blood, had come to the Bandit's hut carrying a child younger than Ace, probably by three years, if he was to guess. He was trying to attack Garp as much as he could, to no avail as every attack he threw was completely useless against him. The kid wore dirty clothes and only one sandal on his foot, he had raven hair and wild eyes.

When the Bandits came out to investigate the noise, Dadan and Garp quickly got into an argument. The kid was released and started running around the clearing, investigating his surroundings and looking for something. Every time he came across an object he didn't recognize he… _wait, was he sniffing that?_ Ace though as he watches the kid sniff the dog. It was Dadan's pet and he knew better then to pick a fight with it, of course he could beat it in one, but at dinner time it would steal some of his food and that was not allowed.

The dog looked ready to start a fight with the harmless looking kid, its hunches were raised and it was growling and snarling at the boy, _who was still sniffing it!_ When the boy noticed the animal was clearly not happy with his presence, the kid got down on all fours and started growling back.

_What the hell is wrong with this kid!? _Ace though. _Was he raised by animals or something?!_

To his surprise, the dog backed away from the boy, it stopped growling and looked as if it was trying to defend itself from the smaller boy, and to Ace's shock, the dog whimpered. It actually whimpered! The dog turned tail and ran, afraid of the kid.

_The hell? _Ace thought.

Garp picked the kid up by the scruff of his neck and showed him to Dadan. "luffy, say hi." He said as if teaching a dog to bark.

The now named luffy raised his hand and said, "Yo." He quickly wriggled out of the old man's grasp and ran around the rest of the clearing, coming to a stop in front of Ace and his boar. he stared up at ace in awe and smiled happily. His grin was as big as the sun and radiated just as much warmed.

Ace couldn't resist himself, he spat on the kid, trying to make luffy hate him. he didn't deserve this child's smile, he wasn't worth it. but Luffy didn't glare at him, instead, he wiped off the spit with his sleeve and stared back at Ace, his smile still in place.

"Hi, I'm luffy!" he said.

Ace huffed before taking his catch inside. He wouldn't get close to the new kid; it would only hurt him more when he found out about his wings. He had seen it all before, the normal kids would try to make friends with him and will be all kind and casual until they found out about him wings. Then they would attack him and throw stones at him and call him 'freak' and 'monster' and then he would hit them hard enough on the head that they would forget it all. don't want their parents involved.

He was stopped by Garp.

"Ace, my boy! Say hi to your grandpa!" he declared, bringing the ten-year-old into a crushing hug.

In an attempt to free himself, Ace yelled, "hello shitty gramps! Now let me go, asshole!" Garp didn't hear anything after 'Hello' and that was for the best, Ace didn't want a Fist Of Love, not now and never. As it was, Garp was smiling happily chanting something about his 'grandson saying hello' and how amazing that was. It was strange seeing this side of the Marine, his family side.

When Garp finally released him, Ace pick up his bear and almost ran into the hut, trying to get as far away from his Grandpa as feasibly possible. He threw the bear at the closest Bandit and ran up to his room to wait for dinner.

Dinner was an odd occasion. After Dadan gave Luffy the 'rules' for staying here, he agreed instantly, not even shying away from murder, or maybe he didn't understand it… oh well, not his problem. Luffy had stated that he had lived in hasher conditions and this wasn't so bad, he got a bowl of rice too! Or at least Ace assumed that was what his happiness was about by the way he guarded and held the bowl of white rice.

When bedtime came, ace took his pillow and blanket to sleep in the furthest corner of the room. when Luffy came upstairs, he had asked him some things that made no sense, seriously, who asks other people If they poop? That's just revolting. And of course, he didn't answer, pretending to be asleep.

As soon as Luffy backed off and fell asleep, indicated when his breathing evened out, Ace allowed himself to fall asleep.

In the morning, Luffy was awake before him, bundled up in a blanket staring at him. it would have looked creepy if it wasn't him, as it was, it was rather adorable and cute. Not that ace would ever admit that, no, he has a reputation to uphold.

"tsk." Ace ignores him and heads down for breakfast, after that, he headed out into the forest, ignoring the mountain bandit's yells for doing chores and work. He would never do that.

"hey wait!" luffy yelled as he followed ace into the forest, gaining his own shouts from Bandits. "Do you wanna be friends?" he asked from behind him.

Ace ran away from him, hitting a bunch of logs as he passed, letting them fall onto the path Luffy was heading up. Luffy somehow managed to dodge them all and sighed in relief, until he noticed Ace wasn't there anymore. Quickly, Luffy ran up the hill to a cavern with an old rope bridge dangling between in. Ace was on the other side.

Luffy smiled and ran along the bridge, ignoring the fact that ace was pulling out the pegs that kept it attached to the ledge. His smile almost made Ace rethink his plan, but then the faces of other children filled his vision. No one but Sabo would ever love him. this kid would be just like them. and with that, Ace let the bridge fall into the ravine. He turned away from the scream as luffy fell and ran off to Grey Terminal to find Sabo, his only friend.

* * *

That night, Luffy returned covered in scratches and bruises but nothing major. He brushed off all the Bandits concerns and smiled at Ace every time he found the older raven looking at him. Luffy claimed to have eaten a boar already so devoured his bowl of rice in record time before disappearing into their shared room. Ace couldn't wait to leave him here and move out.

When ace found his way upstairs, he was met with a smiling Luffy. "Do you wanna be my friend?" he asked again.

Ace glared at him, "no." he replied angrily.

There was silence in the room as Ace grabbed his blanket and pulled it over himself, facing away from the kid. Just before he fell asleep though, Luffy said something he wasn't expecting.

"I know you have wings."

Ace was awake immediately; he grabbed his pipe and was quick to raise it to attack. What met his eyes was a sleeping Luffy on the other side of the room. wrapped up in a blanket from head to toe, curled up in a ball. It confused Ace; did he imagine it? No. it was too clear, he couldn't have. Luffy had spoken the words Ace never wanted to hear, and then he played it off as sleeping. He had half a mind to walk up to him and kick him awake, but he didn't on the off chance It was just his mind playing tricks on him.

Slowly, Ace calmed down and hid himself under the blankets, glancing at his back to make sure his wings were still hidden away.

* * *

A week passed since then.

Ace hasn't confronted Luffy about that night and Luffy hasn't said anything else to indicate that he actually said that. One of the key factors being; he didn't despise Ace for his entire being nor hate him for existing. Ace had visited Grey Terminal each day and told Sabo about the kid. Luffy would always follow him causing Ace to find ways to lose him in the jungle, from throwing the brat into a croc infested river, to getting him lost in a large and dangerous cave system ruled by a giant tiger.

Today was the day Ace was moving out.

"hey Dadan, I'm moving out to live with Sabo, you know, that kid I told you about." Ace said over breakfast.

The Bandit leader looked hurt at first, as impossible as that was, then angry, "NO WAY YOU BRAT! What if Garp found out! I would be killed! Or worse, imprisoned!" she yelled at the brat who was ignoring her.

Ace cleaned out his ear, "can't stop me, I'm leaving this dump." He said calmly, inspecting his finger.

After a few (read: lots) of swear words, and horrible language that should never be said in front of a child, the Bandit calmed down. "can you tell us where you'll be staying, at least?"

Ace raised an eyebrow at her question, she gained a tick mark.

"JUST TELL US, YOU BRAT!" she yelled.

He rolled his eyes but relented, "fine. I'm going to live in a tree house Sabo and I have been building for the last six years."

Luffy perked up at the mention of a tree house, "can I come?" he asked, hopefully.

Ace glared at him, "No way!" he yelled.

Dadan sighed and nodded, "You can go as long as you come back here at least once a week. Got that, you brat?!" she compromised.

"tsk, like you could make me." Ace retorted.

The bandit leader smirk, "well, I could always tell Garp his grandsons are playing pirate in the forest up in a tree house." She said rhetorically.

Ace looked affronted, "you wouldn't." He said. If she did that, their treehouse would be less then ruins and they will be forced to came back to the Bandit hut.

Dadan grinned evilly, "oh yes I would. Hehehehehe…" she cackled.

Ace gritted his teeth, "fine. I'll visit once a week." And with that, Ace grabbed all his stuff he had packed the night before and walked away. Luffy followed him, this time at a distance.

When they were out of the hearing range of the bandits luffy asked in a serious tone, "why don't you want to be my friend?"

Ace glared at him but felt he should give him an answer that wasn't just a swear word or degrading insult, he deserved that much.

"You would hate me." he said, turning away from the younger kid and stalked off into the forest. He didn't even try to shake him off, he would get lost all on his own soon enough.

There was silence for a few minutes until Luffy spoke, this time in wonder, "Is it because of your wings?"

And just like that, Ace dropped his belongings, grabbed his pipe and pinned Luffy to the ground.

"how do you know that." He growled, low and threatening. It didn't work on Luffy, he just smiled at him.

"I could smell it." He said cheerfully, oblivious to the fear he should be feeling in this sort of situation.

"you… what?" he demanded angrily.

Luffy smiled as he started fidgeting under his hold. He started scratching his arm for some reason, like he had some unquenchable itch that just wouldn't go away. Ace had noticed that he had been doing this all week, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. It didn't look like he was lying, but Ace didn't know how well he could lie, for all he knew, Luffy was waiting for the perfect moment to go tell the world his secret just for the laughs.

"mmhm." Luffy nodded, "I could smell it. I have very good sight, hearing and smell because…" Luffy parted his lips and looked to the side, he was _so_ lying now, "no reason that's important." He lied.

Wow, he was a bad liar.

"anyway, I could smell birdy coming off you and figured you had wings. I knew a friend who smelt like you… well not really, you smell dirtier. But I guess you have wings cause you smell like him and he had wings." Luffy bluntly stated.

Ace narrowed his eyes, "your friend…? where is he?" he asked. he had calmed down from the initial outburst, but he was still suspicious of the kid who suddenly knew his secret.

Luffy's face turned sour and he looked ready to cry, but he didn't. "he died. The people in his village killed him after they found out about it, he was sick and needed help and he couldn't fold his wings up. I was dumb and took him into his town and begged them to heal him. the doctor refuse when they saw the wings. they tried to kill him. I ran out with him on my back and into the woods. They hunted us down and then Jerry died because of his sickness because I didn't know what to do a-and them Garp came and I tried to defend us, but he hit me. then h-he took me away from my m-m-mountain c-cave and brought me here and said I was his g-grandson now." by the end of it, luffy was a crying mess.

Out of surprise at what Luffy said and horror that he has no idea what to do, Ace got off him and punched him on the top of his head, "stop crying, you idiot! I hate cry-babies!" he yelled.

Luffy instantly sucked up all his tears and held his tears and snot back by biting his bottom lip. Ace couldn't help but think, _that was easy._ As the kid stopped crying instantly. luffy climbed up to a sitting position but didn't stand up.

Now that Ace had a moment to think it through, he looked back at luffy, "so… you don't hate me?" he asked almost timidly, he wont never admit it, but he was warming up to the kid, it was like Sabo, he just couldn't bring himself to actually hit him or cause him too much harm… maybe he was growing soft… damn.

Luffy shook his head negatively, "nope!" he popped the 'p'.

Ace continued, "… and you don't want me to die?" he asked hesitantly.

Luffy continued to shake his head, "na-ah! I want Ace to live!" he said surly.

Ace looked at the kid in front of him. without any hesitation, he had declared that he was someone who wanted Ace, _Ace_ of all people, to live. The curse upon the world, the devil son, evil incarnate, fake human, he didn't deserve to live but here luffy was, stating that he wanted Ace to live. He couldn't believe it.

He shouldn't believe it.

He would believe it.

Because this boy, this kid, had just stated in a cheerful and happy manner that he _wanted Ace to live! _If he was any other kid, he would have broke down crying. But he won't, because he is Ace and he was strong.

"fine. Come on, I'll take you to the tree house. We'll grab your stuff later." Ace said after a bit of deliberating.

Luffy smiled sadly, "no need. Don't have any stuff. Garp wouldn't let me take anything from my home."

Ace huffed as he grabbed all his stuff, there wasn't much, a blanket and pillow, a telescope he found In Grey Terminal, some spare clothes and some coins he stole off the Bandits. "hmm, well, follow me, the tree house is this way."

They walked in silence, but Ace couldn't help but feel happy that he met another person who didn't hate him for what he is. It was nice, to be loved like a normal person for a change. Ace wanted to keep this feeling, to experience it whenever he wanted and enjoy the warm feeling it brought.

For the first time in a very long time, a smile graced Ace's face. It was smile but genuine.

Sabo was already at the treehouse when they got there. After spotting him, Sabo climbed down the rope ladder.

"hi Ace!" he said before turning to Luffy, "I'm Sabo, nice to meet you." he said.

Luffy looked up at Sabo, who was a head taller than him, blinked and smiled massively at him. "hi, I'm Luffy!"

Sabo smiled back at him, "welcome to our humble aboard, luffy." He said cheerfully. He looked at ace, "Does he know about_ that_?" he all but whispered. Ace nodded in reply to his question.

Luffy looked up at Sabo, he pulled on his shirt when he didn't look down. Giving the kid all his attention, Sabo asked, "hmm?"

"what does 'aboard' mean?" he asked innocently.

Sabo ruffled up Luffy's hair, "it means home." Luffy's mouth created an 'O' shape in realization.

"cool!" he yelled. Luffy ran to the rope ladder and quickly climbed up it to explore his new home.

* * *

It's been a week since the three moved out and life couldn't have been going better. They had food just outside their home, a stash of gold each of them added to that Luffy would stare at longingly for some reason, a place to call home and belongings they found in Grey Terminal to call their own.

The only problem was that Luffy wouldn't stop scratching.

At first Sabo and Ace disregarded it as a minor tick or he got bitten by a mosquito or something, but it kept getting worse. Now it's to the point where Luffy was pealing skin every time he scratched. Sabo was forced to use the limited medical knowledge that he had to bandage up luffy's arms, but it never stayed for long. Luffy declared that they were irritating and didn't like them and took them off. When they offered to take him to the doctor so they could see what was wrong, Luffy had refused very quickly, going as far as to shout angrily, which for Luffy they quickly found out was rare. Ace and Sabo decided that they would take him if it got too serious, no matter what he says.

Which brings them to today.

Luffy had woken up restless and tired, he was fidgeting and scratching every piece of skin he could, it was annoying. He just wanted to transform and be himself, not this fleshy weird human form Garp forced him to be. He didn't like it, but he was too afraid of Garp and too afraid of what his new friends will think. His other Fae friend, Jerry, the one who died, didn't even know about it, so he didn't even have a basis of what would be their reaction, well, other then fear.

They couldn't know, they would hate him for lying and they would fear him because of what he is. Then he will be lonely and will have to leave. Luffy didn't want to leave, he liked it here and he liked his friends. But he couldn't get away for long enough to transform and relieve this itch he gets from staying in him human form, but he couldn't tell them that.

Ace and Sabo had taken it upon themselves to keep him safe, they make sure at least one of them has an eye on him at all times and that he doesn't go off into the jungle alone. While touching, it is annoying when he's trying to get away for a bit. the first time he escaped at night when the itch got too much for him to bare, Ace had found him not ten minutes later. It was infuriating but there was nothing he could do except tell them, and he couldn't do that.

Luffy pinned his back against the corner of the tree house, he really like the place, it was high and comfy, it had blankets and was warm but not too hot, it was windy but not too cold, it reminded him of his cave, the one he used to live in. that thought brought back memories of his younger childhood; his kind mother who taught him everything she knew before giving her life for his, his only friend who was also ostracized from society, and the humans who were kind to him until they knew what he was. They hunted him then, wanted him gone from existence or sold to the highest bidder… whatever that meant.

They were weak though, luffy kept them away, but didn't kill them. injuring them wasn't a problem but he was taught not to kill unless absolutely necessary, so he didn't. the town had called the Marine people to join in and a passing ship came in to help. Up until then, luffy could easily defeat the villages while keeping his distance, slowly retreating back to his mountain. But he couldn't defeat Garp, not him. he was too strong.

Luffy was curious how a Human could get that strong, but at the same time he fears for him death. He did the only thing possible at the time: he ran.

It was completely useless, as the Marine Vice-Admiral chased him down to his home. He had burrowed his way into the treasure pile he had created, closed his eyes and hoped all this never happened. He should have fought instead of run and hide, but he still didn't want to attack humans and he was still just getting over the fact that his only friend, Jerry, had died. He was sad and just wanted to disappear into a hole so he could wallow in sadness, the opposite of his usually cheery personality.

Life just didn't agree with him.

Garp reached a hand into his treasure pile and dragged him out by the scruff of his scaly neck. He looked at the dragon, slightly smaller than him, and sighed.

"I know you can transform, hurry up and do it before I change my mind." he said gruffly. Luffy had flinched and started to wriggle, trying to get out of his grasp, to no use, his grip was just too strong.

When he couldn't escape, Luffy started curling up into a ball, trying to hide from the big scary man. He was shaken again and thrown into his treasure pile. The big scary man pointed at him.

"I'm Vice Admiral Garp of the Marines! I know you don't know what that is, and I know you don't know me. but I know that you know how to transform into a human! Now do it so we can have a conversation!" he yelled at the young red dragon.

Luffy stared at him for a moment before shaking himself, the first process of his transformation. Keeping his eyes on the now named Garp, he folded his wings and pressed them into his back, he grew smaller and his scales became softer. If he was attacked now, he would surely die, but Garp stayed a good distance away, watching the young dragon change. Luffy's tail disappeared into his lower back at the same time his wings did, his face grew flatter and his sharp fangs disappeared into stubbed human teeth, and his short and stubby legs, all four of the, lengthened and changed into arms and feet. He didn't have any clothes on, but then again, why would he? He's a dragon.

In his place stood a kid, no older than seven, with Black hair and a scar under his eye. His skin was naturally tanned and had a few small scar littered around the place, all of them practically unnoticeable.

Luffy frowned as Garp sat down in front of him. the kid, now that it was obvious that he was a kid, was no threat to the Vice-admiral, no matter what form he was in. Luffy shivered as a draft came into his cave, he ducked down into the treasure pile to keep warm but that was just colder, to his disappointment. Human forms got so cold, this is why he liked his other one better, it didn't get cold.

Garp took off his cape and threw it at the kid, to his bafflement.

"don't want you catching a cold." He said simply, answering the unspoken question. Luffy wrapped the parchment around him as he eyed the scary man.

"what do you want." He said in his most threatening voice, it didn't work much as he was about to burst into tears… stupid human form.

Garp looked at his seriously, "I want to know why your attacking Humans." He said simply, sitting up straighter as if he owned the cave, "Also, where are your parents? I thought dragon children stayed with their parents until they're twenty-five." He looked around for the second question, baffled by the lack of presence of a larger, scarier beast.

Luffy looked at him, trying very hard to ignore the water tying to leak out of his eyes. "My parents are dead and I'm attacking humans because they're hunting me." he said, pulling the cape around him tighter.

Garp stared at him, making him fidget, "why are they hunting you?"

"because I asked them to heal my friend, but they refused because he had wings. They killed him because he was a 'monster' then hunted me down by association. When they found out I was a dragon, they wanted me dead, So I ran. They've been attacking me, and I've just been running away. I don't know what I'll do when they fine my home." A tear ran down his face and Luffy wiped it off with the Marines cape.

Garp 'hmmed', "I noticed you haven't killed anyone yet, in fact, the worst wound inflicted was a broken arm. Can I ask why?"

Luffy's eyes hardened, "I didn't do that! He fell and tripped into the ravine all by himself! I didn't do it!" he yelled, standing atop his large treasure pile that he sleeps in. A few loose coins fell down the heap and landed at Garp's feet.

Garp blinked before laughing, "feisty brat, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically. "how about you come home with me? become my grandson?" he offered in a tone that made it clear that it wasn't going to be argued. "I have two other grandsons who I know you will just love." And with that, Garp stood and picked the terrified dragon up. Luffy shouted at him to put him down but the Marine wouldn't listen.

Before they got back to the Marine's ship, he asked, "what's your name, brat?"

Luffy pouted, he still didn't want to go, "… luffy."

Garp smiled as he kidnapped the dragon.

"-ffy! Hey luffy!" Ace said while shaking him, clearly worried, or annoyed, he couldn't tell the difference.

Luffy looked up at his friend, nope, he was definitely worried. Sabo stood behind him, also worried. At first, Luffy couldn't figure out why they would be worried, had their food gone cold? But then he felt the stinging on his arms and the tears on his cheeks, he must have been crying and scratching his arm. Damn.

"you okay, luffy?" Ace asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Ace knew he wasn't, but it was a standardized Question for the distressed.

Luffy nodded while biting his bottom lip, the two older boys instantly knew he was lying.

"why were you crying luffy? Does it hurt?" Sabo asked, gesturing to his scratched-up arms.

Luffy looked down and shook his head: more lies.

Sabo crouched down and put a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch. The older boys shared a glance, they were worried about the reaction, but didn't say anything about it. "luffy, it's okay to admit it hurts. We can go see a doctor an-" he was cut off by luffy.

"NO!" he yelled, fire in his eyes. "I don't wanna!"

Ace punched him in the head, "well we don't always get what we want! If your hurt, we need to see a doctor! You got that!" Ace yelled angrily.

Luffy nursed the bump that was forming on his head. "no!" he said as he curled up into a ball and clutched his knees tightly his fingers started going white, "they wont be able help." He wimpered.

That made the older two pause, Sabo was the first to speak up, "luffy, do you know what's going on?" he asked.

After a moment's hesitation, Luffy nodded, he still didn't take his head out of his knees though.

Sabo continued, "do you know what needs to be done to get better?" he asked hopefully.

A longer hesitation, but a nod, nonetheless.

Ace gritted his teeth and blew up, "THEN WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T YOU DONE IT YET!" he yelled into the air, startling some of the birds in the neighboring trees.

Luffy flinched. He mumbled something into his knee that both older boys missed.

"can you repeat that?" Sabo said. Luffy grumbled something into his knee again, they didn't catch that either.

Sabo sighed, "can you look up so we can understand you." he said dryly.

Luffy lifted his head up high, his eyes clenched shut, "I said, I DON'T WANT YOU TO HATE ME!" he yelled before opening his eyes and staring at them in the realization of what he said. He looked afraid of then two startled boys, they hadn't expected that, and clenched his jaw in horror. He hid his head back into his knees as fast as he could, as if that simple action would hide him from the world and set him free.

Of cause, it doesn't work like that and he was still here, in the tree house, in front of his two friends.

After Ace and Sabo got over their initial shock, Ace clenched his jaw and sat down with his hands on his knees, he knew he would be no help in the upcoming conversation, and so he decided to let Sabo handle this. He had skills in this sort of thing.

Sabo smiled at Ace, recognizing the action for what it was, and turned back to Luffy, putting his hand back on his shoulder and trying to convince Luffy to look at him again. "luffy." He said, "can you look at me? yeah, like that. Now, can you tell me why you think we would hate you? because I can promise you, we would never do that, not to you, okay?" luffy looked at him with hopeful teary eyes, and for once, Ace didn't demand that he stop being a cry-baby. The young dragon in human form looked at his friends, his instincts told him that it would be fine, and he wouldn't be hurt, not by them, but something held him back. It was fear.

He was afraid of humans and he was afraid of what they would do. He didn't want to be hunted by his friends and he didn't want to be killed by them either. But something inside of him told him it would be okay, they wouldn't judge him for what he looked like, they would look past that, to who he is. They would see him as _luffy_.

With that in mind, the dragon took a shuddering breath and looked at his friends with a wishful gaze, "I'm a dragon." He said honestly.

Ace and Sabo didn't respond immediately, instead they shared a glance and Ace shrugged. The message was clear: he was as confused as he was. Sabo looked back at the youngest whose eyes had dimmed after noticing the disbelief in their actions.

Sabo squeezed the shoulder he was holding and looked luffy in the eye, "and why do you think we would hate you if you're a dragon?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

Luffy instantly perked up when Sabo didn't immediately shoot him down, but them dimmed when he thought about why, "cause everyone else hate me." his grip on his legs loosened as he moved to scratch his itchy leg.

Ace crawled over to the two of them and grabbed Luffy's hand, stopping him from scratching all his skin away. "bad luffy. No scratching." He told him off without any heat in the words.

Sabo sighed, "and since when were we everyone else?"

Luffy looked down at his knee and thought about it. When his head started going red and steam began to come off it, Sabo was about to interrupt Luffy's thoughts so he doesn't overheat, but didn't get the chance to as luffy rocketed out of his ball shape and barreled into the two of them with all the force he could muster.

"s-so you d-don't want me d-d-dead?" he asked though tears, Sabo and Ace dragged him into a big hug pile.

Ace smirked and Sabo smiled, "Never." They said in unison.

Luffy cried harder into their shoulders, pulling them as close as his little arms could. The older two boys wrapped their own arms around the smaller boy and hugged him back, they were finally all on the same page, they finally understood. Ace let his wings out and encircled all three of them in his own dome of protection. It was like a big warm and fluffy hug. It was comforting, to have friends like these, he could even say brothers.

After a good few minutes of tears, Luffy calmed down and sat in front of them, still fidgeting and obviously trying not to scratch.

"So, how does you being a dragon relate to your itchiness?" Sabo asked tactfully.

Luffy looked down at the ground in shame, "When I stay in this form for too long, it gets uncomfortable and my skin get itchy. I can do little things like change my skin to scales to take away some of the pain, but it doesn't last very long. I can really only hold this form for three weeks before it becomes horrible, then I can only hold if for another 2 if I ignore the pain. I've been holding it for the last 4 and a half weeks."

Realization lit up Sabo's and Ace's faces, they understood that. After all, Ace had similar problems with his wings, he has to let them out at least once a week before it becomes unbearable.

"I have the same problem." Ace voiced.

Sabo nodded, "so all we have to do to get rid of your itch is to let you transform, yes?" he clarified.

Luffy nodded.

A smile lit up Ace's and Sabo's face, "then what are you waiting for?" they said.

Luffy's face lit up and he smiled back, big and genuine, just the way it's supposed to be.

* * *

'**omake'**

Sabo sat on the side of the riverbank with Ace. Hat on his head as he dosed in the shade of the tree, the sand soft under his back.

Ace had his wings out, flapping them around in the sand, giving them a sand bath, pulling out all the old or injured feathers so they can be replaced with newer ones, and pruning them all so they're back to their soft and fluffy state. He did this by running his fingers through the feathers slowly, loosening sticks and leaves that get caught in them, that later become uncomfortable. The feathers where still white but were slowly changing colors to a deep red, it wasn't there yet, it was still a light pink, but it was getting there.

Luffy was in his dragon form in the deep river, all the crocodiles were avoiding him, only his head was visible. He was blowing bubbles in the water while eating a giant fish he caught just before, he would have eaten one of the many crocodiles, but they were all hiding on the river banks, stay well away from the river's edge, and he just didn't want to climb out of the cool water.

It was moments like these that all three of the boys appreciated the small things in life. It was moments like these that made then all think that maybe, just maybe, there was someone out there who didn't want them dead, maybe the world wasn't as bad as it seemed. And maybe they were allowed to have a place to call home, somewhere.

* * *

somewhere in the grand line, an old yonko with a crew of children got an itch: there was someone out there in need of a family.

a grin spread across his face at the thought.

"are you okay, Pops?" the first division commander asked with a raised eyebrow.

Whitebeard nodded with a grin, "I'm fine, just had a feeling."

"a feeling?"

"yep. a feeling."

and with that,, the first division commander left the captain to his thoughts.

* * *

**I hope you like the first chapter. **

**With that done, see you in the next one.**

**Follow, Favorite, Review.**


	2. Bloody Meals

The trio of boys had been living together for over a month now.

They would spend their days training in the forest, scouring Grey Terminal for anything of worth, selling their hunted skins to the markets in town, dine and dashing, relaxing in their proffered forms, stealing from everyone they came across or visiting Dadan and her Bandits. they had a lot they could do, and they enjoyed doing it. It was fun and life was easy.

Now it was the afternoon, they had spent the day with Dadan as it was the day of the week they visited her, so she know they were still alive. After their visit, they went back to their tree house, now with a lookout, and had their daily 100 spars. Sabo and Ace were completely even with scores, both reaching 25 wins each whenever they fought, but against Luffy they both won 50 times, no effort… well, unless he was in his dragon form, then they didn't win at all, but that doesn't count cause he's a dragon.

When they finished that, the three headed down to the cliff overlooking the beach. Luffy had found the place after following his nose to the smell of the ocean. It was a secretive and an amazing place they all loved immediately. They had a table (a tree stump) and roof (leaves) for their second base away from home. It was cozy and snug, tucked away by the edge of the forest. And it was theirs.

Ace had sneaked off to grab something, he said it was important, and Sabo was reading a book about dragons to Luffy. It wasn't exactly a fairy tale book, but more of an information text one would find in a science book, luffy didn't seem to mind. Sabo had been trying to teach him to read and write earlier, but after a while, they gave up. As a reward for the effort luffy put in for the first half-hour of the lesson, Sabo decided to read to him. Luffy was laying on his lap, looking at the pictures of the dragons in the book, there were large blue ones and small green ones, shiny black ones and glowing white one, and finally, there were big dangerous red fire dragons, like him. he liked them the best… probably because he is one, but that would be bias.

"-red dragons will usually proffer warmer climates. Their scales have a high resistance to all things heat related, but are weak against cold attacks like ice, this does not mean that fire dragons will die in the cold as they have an internal heat source which is hotter than molten lava. So, the most effective weapon against a fire dragon will be large scale ice or snow attack using the devil fruits. Other traits fire dragons have are high resistance to most poisons, one known poison to work against fire dragons are the berries from Kurma Island in the south blue. These berries have been proven to be deadly to fire dragons and can prove fatal if not treated immediately, they also cause rashes if touched by bare skin. Having said that, fire dragons have a higher resistance to pain then other dragons' breeds and have the second strongest scales in existence, after the Earth dragons. Unlike the other three dragon species', fire dragons are not restricted to their own habitats, lava caves, and can easily venture into others. Their toes are webbed giving then the ability to swim, not as well as the Water Dragons, but better than some sea kings, and they have wings providing them with the ability of flight, not as fast as the Sky Dragons, but better than most birds. However, Fire dragons do have weaknesses, one of which is the–" he was cut off by Ace.

"I'm back." He said, holding three cups and a bottle of Sake.

Luffy lifted his arm in acknowledgment, "Yo."

Sabo smiled at the two. "so, you going to tell us where you been?" he asked the older Raven.

Ace nodded. "well, I decided I didn't want to be friends with you guys anymore, so I'm making us brothers." He said as if it was the most simplest thing in the world. Luffy was instantly up and looking up at Ace in awe.

"Really? We can do that? Can we, please? Can we, Sabo? Can we?" he begged, shaking Sabo's arm and jumping up and down in excitement. Sabo rolled his eyes and ruffled up the younger boy's hair.

"Sure we can. But I'm more curious how." Sabo said, raising an eyebrow at the Sake bottle but not complaining.

Instead of answering Sabo's unspoken question, Ace sat down at the round table (tree stump) and poured Sake into three cups, Sabo and Luffy joined him, waiting for him to speak.

"Did you guys know, we can become brothers if we exchange cups of this Sake." Ace said with a smile.

"Brothers." Luffy repeated awe struck.

Ace continued as if he was never interrupted, "No matter what happens in the future, if we end up on the same ship or not, this bond will stay with us forever, we will be brothers."

Each of the boys grabbed a cup of Sake and clinked it together. Each with their own happy smile on their faces, they drank every last drop of Sake from their cup as they cheered to their brotherhood.

For once, life was going well for the three outcasts.

* * *

"thank you for the food!" all three boys yelled after themselves. The trio just dine and dashed from yet another restaurant, pissing off the owner and running him out of business, they ate a lot. And then, to top it all off, they broke the wall in their escape because the chef threw a frypan at luffy. It didn't harm him, because he is a dragon, but that didn't stop the overprotective pair from beating up the chef and running outside, Leaving the owner covered in eggs.

Luffy giggled as he ran between his brothers, brandishing the pipe they gave him to fight with while in this form. The guy who ran the show looked awful, eggs do not suit him, maybe they should try flour next time…

"Sabo?" a man they ran past called out, looking in disbelief at their blonde brother. He was obviously a noble with his clean appearance and stuffy clothes, seriously, does he really need to wear four layers in this heat? Its summer for god sake! He was overly decorated with every accessory deemed 'worthy' of a noble's grace, and his top hat was way too crowded with things. He stared at Sabo's retreating back like one would stare at an investment for more profits. It sent alarm bells ringing in Luffy's head instantly.

"Sabo, who is he?" Ace asked, still running from the restaurant but at a slower pace than before, there were no pursuers. He looked just as confused as Luffy did, why would this noble know Sabo?

"yeah!" Luffy supported.

Sabo shook his head, "n-no one." failing to keep the stammer out of his voice. he ran ahead of the two other boys to get out of the city faster.

The other two boys shared a glance before following Sabo out of the city.

A few hours have passed since then and Ace and Luffy were worried for Sabo, his gaze was always locked far away in the distance, he answered all the questions they asked him with one or two word answers, he wouldn't read Luffy a story, which for him is very rare, and Ace beat him in 27 spars. He was obviously thinking about something important and didn't want to share his thoughts, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what he's thinking about.

It got to a point where Ace grabbed Sabo's shoulder and pinned him to a rock after one of their fights, Ace had won easily. "you're going to tell us what you're thinking about and then you're going to tell us who that guy back in town was!" he demanded.

Sabo glared at the raven, "never!" he shouted back in defiance.

Ace's eyes narrowed, "you will, or I'll tickle you." he threatened, keeping calm so he appeared more intimidating.

Luffy came up behind Ace and stole Sabo's hat, "and I'll hit your hat." He chimed in with a megawatt grin on his face.

Sabo growled, he actually _growled_! "you wouldn't." voice low, letting none of his inner turmoil appear on his face. Ace smirked.

"oh, yes we would." He had that evil grin of his on his face, something one would normally see on an evil genius out to get everyone, not on a ten-year-old kid with a ridicules amount of strength.

Sabo gains a look of horror on his face as he realizes they aren't bluffing; they really are holding his hat hostage. Damn them. Sabo sighed and drops his head.

"fine. That man back there was my father. I'm not an orphan like you, I'm a bloody noble's child. Sorry for lying to you." and there it was, the confession of a lifetime. His two brothers aren't going to love him anymore and they will kick him out of the forest because all the nobles want them dead or on a stage looking pretty. They will accuse him and blame him for everything his family has done, and he will live out the rest of his life in misery and sadne-

"so?" Ace asks dumbly.

"_so_, I'm a noble. Don't you want to get rid of me?!" Sabo says as his head whips up to meet Ace's confused gaze.

Luffy chimes in as if it was the simplest thing in the world, "nope! Your Sabo, and Sabo is our brother."

Sabo's eyes start tearing up, "so, you don't hate me?" he asks tensly.

Ace rolls his eyes and his brother, "you know, I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation at least three times now." he said dryly, "no, we don't hate you."

Sabo looks at him, trying to find hidden agenda within his eyes, finding nothing he continues, "…you sure?"

Ace stares holes into Sabo's head, "Sabo. I have wings and my father was the Pirate King... and Luffy is a dragon. I don't think either of us are in a position to criticize you for whatever bastard your father was."

Sabo's eyes glowed. Seeing this, Luffy put the hat he had been holding down and launched into both of them with a big hug, demanding their attention for himself. "Yeah! Sabo's back to normal!" he cheered, rubbing his nose into both of them happily. It was moments like these where his animalistic traits really showed.

The older boy's laughed at their brothers antics, but didn't throw him off.

"yeah, back to normal." Sabo repeated.

* * *

It's been a few months since the incident with Sabo's father in the markets and they haven't seen him since. Winter was just passing and spring was beginning anew, small green plants were sprouting everywhere in the forest, baby animals were being born, Luffy even decided that if the come across any baby animal with a parent, they won't eat the parent because growing up without someone to teach them anything is scary. At first, Ace disagreed and refused to follow his rules, but he eventually agrees when Luffy refused to eat anything until he listened. He lasted two days before Ace caved to the younger's demands.

Ace and Sabo were eleven now and luffy was eight, each having their own birthdays, only Luffy's was know by the other two, they still didn't know who was older out of Ace and Sabo.

Ace and Sabo sparred while Luffy watched from the sidelines, he was sitting on the edge of his seat with sparkles in his eyes. It was unclear what he was mesmerized by, it was obviously the pair, but they couldn't tell if it was their fast movements, skills, aiming ability, or just the fact that it's them fighting. Luffy could be really unreadable when he wanted to be, it was annoying. Ace and Sabo had arguments that went well into the night about this, they couldn't decide who he was cheering for, he never said a name and it was generalized things like 'beat him up!' or 'your the coolest!' but they didn't know who it was aimed at, at any given time. It was infuriating.

Ace dodged a pipe swing to the head and quickly closed the ground between them to deliver a punch to the nose. Sabo ducked, shooting his arm up to knock Ace's outstretched one out of the way, he then launched forward to hit Ace with the side of the pipe, Ace couldn't dodge, so grunted though the attack. He didn't have his own pipe to block, he lost it earlier in the fight. Sabo got behind Ace and the raven spun to meet him, throwing his arms up quickly to block the punches being thrown. Ace slid to the floor and toppled Sabo to the ground with an ankle sweep, bringing his other leg up for an axe king to the skull. Sadly, Sabo saw it coming and rolled out of the way, swinging up to his feet as fast as possible, which was very fast for him. the blonde had lost his pipe when he fell to the floor, so now he was at a slight disadvantage but he didn't let that stop him from charging at ace with a battle cry, throwing out a mock punch for Ace to block before stomping on the ground to deliver a strong kick to Ace's side now that it was exposed.

Ace flew backwards with the force of the blow, hitting a tree hard. he spat out some blood and held up his hand. "that match is yours, but I promise tomorrow will be mine." He swore.

Sabo snorted as he went to the chalkboard they were using to keep the scores; he had won today by a two points lead. Sabo mentally cheered, he was improving. Before, Ace kept getting a larger and larger lead it fronts of him and it had started to become off putting, but he was making progress again. _yeah!_ He thought.

"in your dreams, Harpy." Sabo retorted. Normally, Ace hated being called that, but here he was surrounded by family and he knew they meant nothing by it, it was like a nickname of sorts. So instead of growling, Ace smirked as he stood up.

"then I'll just have to make it a reality." He cockily said back.

"says the guy who just lost."

"hey! This is for tomorrow, not today!" ace said.

"well I'm celebrating my first lead in about a week now, you kept winning, you cheater." Sabo said calmly, sticking his tongue out at the raven.

"I was not cheating! Your just a weakling." Ace said, sticking his tongue out at Sabo.

"says the guy who lost."

They were both too busy blowing raspberries at each other that neither noticed the young dragon in human form springing into action, he quickly pinned them both and gave them massive hugs as they both ate dirt.

"I win!" Luffy cheered, arms in the air as he laughed at his victory.

"oh, that's it!" Ace said, throwing Luffy off him, he shared a glance with Sabo, both donning evil grins. The older pair started slowly stalking towards Luffy, freaking him out slightly because he knows what this means.

"n-no, don't! please!" he begged uselessly, "I don't wanna!"

"sorry Luffy, you don't get a choice in this." Sabo apologized.

"mmh." Ace nodded, both of them still creeping up on Luffy. When they were barely half a meter away, Ace and Sabo jumped into action, tickling the pour child until be burst with laughter.

"TICKLE FIGHT!" Sabo yelled cheerfully. He got to work fast, getting the two other boys in all the places he knows they were ticklish, the side of their ribs, their feet, armpits, knees, necks and elbows. Everything was free range in a tickle fight, and they all knew this, each trying to get the others while avoiding getting caught themselves. Obviously, Luffy wasn't very good at either and got the brunt of it all, but that doesn't matter because they're all gasping, laughing sputtering messes by the end of it.

They all had smiles on their faces as they laid on the floor, trying to catch their breath. Luffy let out a few giggles every now and again, Sparking Ace and Sabo to giggle back. But their mood was ruined in an instant.

Suddenly, Sabo jerked up and clutched his mouth, screaming out to his brothers in pain. He clenched his eyes shut but didn't dare move his mouth, It was in too much pain. He could hear someone screaming, it took him a while to figure out it was him. his ears where ringing and his mouth tasted of blood, warm delicious blood, he could hear his brothers around him, freaking out and asking what was wrong, but they sounded a lifetime away.

Every thought left Sabo except PAIN. It was like someone had shot him in the mouth twice, both on his top front teeth, one on either side of his jaw. It hurt worse than hell. Splinter veins running up his mouth through his head and around his brain all sparking to life at the same moment, like an electric current had been forced through it.

He could feel two of his front teeth fall out and they dropped into his hands dully, he could barely notice the two new ones coming in from above though all the pain, these two where sharper and longer than any of his other teeth, pulling at his skull as if they were begging for something, what that was, he didn't know. For some reason they were slightly hollow, as if they were made to create a hole and extract something without damaging whatever it was he was eating. And they were covered in blood, his blood, the red vibrant life source of all living things. And it looked so _delicious_.

_What, no! blood is yucky, stop thinking that way, idiot!_ Sabo mentally slaps himself.

Then just as fast as it came, it disappeared. The pain receded at light speeds, his voice quietened in response, and the blood stopped coming. He gasped periodically to keep breathing, acutely aware that he was hyperventilating, his eyes opened slowly to see his brothers hovering around him, too afraid to touch him and cause pain, but too concerned to do nothing. They were speaking but he couldn't hear anything they were saying, his ears were still ringing. His eyes traveled down to his hands, they were covered in blood, lots and lots of blood, and in the middle of his palms where two white teeth, tiny and insignificant, and in there place he could feel the new ones, long and dangerous. His mouth was open as he gasped for air faster and faster, the new teeth felt odd in their places but at the same time it felt completely right.

But that was as far as his thoughts got before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out, leaving his brothers to fret and worry about him.

* * *

When Sabo woke up, he was in the treehouse. Luffy was asleep next to him, hugging his midsection so tight he almost couldn't breathe, Ace was sitting nearby, and it looks like his Narcolepsy got to him, a snot bubble had formed. Sabo moved his head a little and instantly regretted it as a spine a pain shot through his head, forcing a groan out of his parched and swollen throat.

Ace was instantly awakened by the noise and was quick to hover annoyingly in front of him, "Sabo! your awake! Are you ok? Where does it hurt? Can I get you anything? What happened? Luffy was scared!" he said, waving his arms around like a lunatic, he had no clue what he was doing.

Sabo coughed, closing his eyes from the agony that brought. "w-water." He whispered out his abused throat, he did a number to it with all that screaming. Ace was quick to compile with his request, sprinting off to the kitchen where they collected the water runoff after the rain with a tarp where they store it for later, he came back with a mug of cold water, cooled by the wind, and lifted his head up slowly to pour the refreshing liquid down his throat. Sabo winced as the water ran past his new teeth, that hurt.

When he had drunk it all, Ace slowly helped him to a sitting position, leaning him against the wall.

"you okay?" he asked unsure. He was definitely worried, even if he would never admit it.

Sabo nodded slightly, just enough for Ace to see, "me mouth 'urts, but other den dat, is good." Sabo replied weakly, slipping over his words as he spoke without the grace he was accustomed to.

There was a moments of silence before Ace asked the next question, "what happened? Do you even know?"

Sabo shrugged, "'aven't da fain'est ideer." He said honestly.

Ace nodded, "can I get you anything? A soup maybe?" Ace asks.

Sabo shook his head, keeping his mouth open so as not to irritate his two new, and slightly annoying, teeth. "no, 'ow long 'ave I been out?" Sabo asks.

Ace immediately clamps up, his jawline goes taunt and his eyes dart to luffy before returning to him, "two days." He said, drawing a gasp from Sabo, "Luffy was so worried about you, he wouldn't let go of you for a single second. He ate barely anything and wouldn't stop crying while waiting for you to wake up. Good timing by the way, I finally got his to sleep." He gestured to the sleeping form, still clinging onto his stomach, but now laying in his lap.

Sabo winced, that wasn't very healthy especially for Luffy, he needed lots of food every day to support his growing body, both the human one and the dragon one. He easily ate twice as much as Ace, who eats a lot anyway. "'orry."

Ace rolled his eyes at the blonde, "don't be… unless you knew that was going to happen, then you're an asshole and a dickhead… you didn't, right?"

Sabo quickly shakes his head.

Ace sighed, "well, we don't know what happened, but now, you have two really long teeth, they look cool, by the way."

Sabo sighed too, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes, mouth still parted, and all his teeth exposed to the outside air as they were still really tender. It was at this moment a shiver ran down Sabo's spine, it was lightning-fast and cold. It wasn't a kind feeling or one that he particularly enjoys, he wasn't quite sure what he felt about the bloodlust it brought. Ace felt it too, he was up on his feet in an instant, by his side to help with whatever the hell just happened. He knew Sabo too long to be afraid of a measly bit of bloodlust.

When the cold, inescapable feeling dispersed, Sabo took a shuddering deep breath in and fell to the side. Because the bloodlust was replaced with an insatiable hunger. He clutched his stomach as waves of hunger coursed through his body, taking control of him and locking all his joints in place. He couldn't move, the starvation was too much. His new teeth hummed in response to this, as if they knew what was happening and their role in life was about to be sated. But it never came.

Then it was gone.

The hunger slowly receded, it was still there, just not as strong. He began to move again, and it didn't cause him pain. His teeth still hummed, but that could be him mistaking the pain for something else, they were still ridiculously sensitive and sore.

"ow." He whispered, eyes shut, arms still wrapped around his midsection, breathing slowly.

"you okay? What happened?" Ace was immediately at his side, hand on his shoulder to steady him.

Sabo scrunched his forehead together, what_ had_ just happened? "don't know, but I'm 'ungry." He spoke slowly.

Ace was immediately up and getting some warm soup they had make before going to sleep. If Sabo had woken up in the night, Luffy wanted to make sure he had something to eat. Dishing a normal amount out for Sabo to eat, Ace made his way back to his brother with worry. Normally, he would hide his compassion and care behind thick walls of hatred and anger and let other people deal with their own problems, but what happened to Sabo had rocked him, there was so much blood and he wouldn't wake up, he had two fangs and didn't he look very well, if all the paler then usual skin was any hint. Ace was afraid they would lose him.

Two days ago, Sabo had just started yelling and screaming while blood spewed out of his mouth like a horrible waterfall, it was everywhere, in his clothes, on his face, his hands, the ground, everything. It was scary for Ace, and Luffy even more so, neither of them knew what the hell was happening and didn't have the faintest idea what to do when Sabo fell over, passed out.

He had quickly checked Sabo over for wounds, or at least where the blood came from, and a pulse. he found two fangs on his top jaw, he won't be the first to admit that they are intimidating, the wounds had all healed up nicely, leaving no more holes where blood was coming from, and Sabo's body jerked in pain every time Ace moved him. The older Raven had picked Sabo up, clutching him to his chest bridal style and brought him back to the treehouse. He got Luffy to run errands and collect stuff from around the house to treat Sabo with, a towel, spare clothes, some ice, bandages, the usual stuff. It was a good way to keep Luffy's mind occupied, because he was seriously freaking out before, but with Ace demanding certain objects, he could take his mind off it and focus on the task.

Of course, Luffy was still very scared, it the way he _still_ held onto Sabo was any clue.

Ace came back, spoon and bowl in hand, "I made this earlier so it's still warm, it's not that good, but it's edible." Ace said as he passed the objects over.

Instead of digging in straight away like Ace suspected he would do, Sabo eyed the soup while picking at the floating bits of meat in it. He got a spoonful, without anything but broth on it, and held it up at eye level. Okay, this was definitely not normal.

"what's wrong?" Ace said, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice. If he said his soup was bad, he was so going to punch him.

Sabo didn't answer immediately, eyes still trained to the spoon, "you know when you stare at food you get super hungry and want to start eating straight away? I don't feel that, instead, it's the opposite, like my stomachs telling me that it's the wrong thing to eat." Sabo dropped the spoon into the bowl and placed in besides him, clutching his head as two small streams of tears escaped his eyes, "I don't know what's going on." He teared up.

"Ashe? Shavooo? Whash going on?" Luffy said waking up slowly, as soon as he caught sight of Sabo though, he was instantly awake. "Sabo! your awake!" he cheered.

then he saw the tears.

Luffy was instantly on his feet, giving Sabo the largest hug possible with his tiny arms. "there, there, sabo. don't cry." He said calmly as he hugged his older brother. Sabo sniffled a bit before sobering up slowly, he brought his hand up to Luffy's head and stoked it soothingly, more for his benefit then Luffy's. for once, the young raven didn't push his hand off and let him continue stoking him like a cat. He looked up at his older brother, "you okay now?"

Sabo nodded weakly, letting loose a small smile, just enough to let Luffy know he's okay. "yeah... thanks luffy." He needed that, something to ground himself to, something to calm him down so he can plan and deal with...whatever this is, accordingly. He needed Luffy. Ace, having his almost-red wings out again, wrapped them around the trio, it was the only way he knew to show compassion. The feathers were warm against their backs and they bristled at the touch, but it was nice, like a warm fluffy blanket.

Luffy really liked it when Ace did this, it was rare for him to touch then, ace doesn't trust the hyperactive kid with something as delicate as his wings… or maybe Ace was just overprotective of them. either way, it was no surprise when Luffy let go of Sabo so he could spin around and stroke the fluffy feathers, rubbing his face into it because why not.

"hey! Don't do that!" Ace yelped as he pulled his wings away.

Luffy huffed, "but they're so fluffy and warm." He complained.

"still! Don't do that, it feels weird." A shiver ran down Ace's spin, he unconsciously held his wings in his arms, clutching them close to protect them.

Luffy slumped to the floor with a groan, falling asleep to escape punishment.

Sabo smiled at his brothers, "have I ever told you how much I love you guys?" he said quietly. No one answered, but he knew they heard if the smile Luffy donned and the grin Ace grew where any hint.

* * *

The sun was just rising in the east. The three made their way up to the lookout to watch the sun rise, each holding their own bowl of soup Ace had given them. Luffy's was gone immediately and Ace's followed soon after, but Sabo only picked at his food and after having a couple bites, gave it to Luffy exclaiming that it was definitely not what he needed.

They understood. After all, sometimes Luffy has the same problem. As he was a dragon, sometimes the meals they eat just don't have enough of something for him, weather it be not enough calories, vitamins or meat, they had to keep it balance otherwise Luffy would get very sick, very fast. It was because of this that Ace had gone to the public library in town and borrowed out books on food, nutrition and all things edible. He had become their chef overnight, mostly because Sabo wasn't very good at it to begin with and Luffy would suck at it anyway. Ace spends most of his spare time reading up of cooking, trying to improve his skills to a respectable standard so he could cook foods for his brothers without them getting sick later on. It was also very important that he knew what they could and couldn't eat, as well as what they needed to eat if something like this happened.

As it stands, they haven't the faintest idea what Sabo would need to eat so as not to feel hungry, but they knew where to start, trial and error.

"so, where should we start?" Ace voiced as the sun complete appears in the sky.

"no idea, but I have a feeling it's not going to be vegetables." Sabo responded, fiddling with his tail coat.

Ace sighed, "oh great, even more meat to add to our diets, just what we need. You know, we still need to eat veggies to stay healthy… don't give me that look, Luffy, its true." He informed.

"But they taste so bad." Luffy whined, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"I'm well aware of what you think, asshole, but I won't be giving you any more meat until you eat your veggies. You need them to grow big and strong." Ace smiled when Luffy straightened up.

"veggies are yummy, I love veggies." He said with a straight face, "can I have my meat now?"

"no."

"what!? No fair!" Luffy retorted, punching Ace's arm, he blocked. All three of them broke down laughing.

Sabo spoke, "I think we should get started, i'm hungry."

The other two nodded, smiles on their face, it was nice seeing their brother up and about again instead of laying on the floor like a corpse.

"yeah!" Luffy yelled. When they reached the forest floor, the first thing Luffy did was take off all his clothes. When he first started using his dragon form more often, and the transformations between human and dragon, they had quickly figured out that it doesn't include clothes. If he was in human form and changed to dragon, his clothes would snap and fray before falling off him in a mess of string and threads. If he was in dragon form and changed to human, he would be completely naked to the world. As such, Ace and Sabo had grown into the habit of carrying a set of spare clothes for luffy around everywhere they went.

Luffy shook himself before turning into a dragon, a large red fiery dragon. His four feet were short but strong, his large wings tucked in close to his body, his snout long and wide, smoke was coming out of the corners of his mouth slowly. He would have looked very intimidating if he wasn't jumping around like a loon waiting for the other two to catch up.

"**hurry up! Hurry up! Let's go!"** Luffy said, jumping from side to side as he got closer and closer to the edge of the clearing.

Sabo sighed while Ace rolled his eyes, "coming Lu." They said in unison. Sabo picked up the discarded clothes as he went, folding then and putting them in a small bag he carries with him everywhere.

The first thing Sabo ate on their mission-to-find-something-Sabo-can-eat, was mushrooms. They weren't near any of their hunting grounds so couldn't go straight to meat, but on the way there, they can eat the assortment of fruits, vegetables and funguses they find. And whatever Sabo doesn't eat, luffy will happily finish it.

"nope. Definitely not this." Sabo said, scrunching his face up while holding out a blue glowing mushroom. They were really yummy and taste very nice with crocodile meat, but right now Sabo can't find it within himself to stomach it.

Ace nodded sagely, "I think we can scratch mushrooms off the list." This had been the twelfth mushroom they tried, "as well as most fruits and veggies." He continued. They hadn't come across anything completely correct yet, but according to Sabo, blood oranges are a slight _sort of_ okay, not what they were looking for, but it could act as a substitute. "and basically, every solid food."

And that was the latest thing they discovered. Using his new fangs, Sabo can suck the liquids out of things. The first time he did it was to an apple, it was a complete accident but it worked, almost immediately after, Sabo's fangs stopped hurting as much as they were before, like they were accepting that they were finally being used for their purpose instead of being sharp munching objects they had first believed. The apple was left as a shriveled-up core, dry to the bone.

"**m****aybe you're a vampire?"** Luffy chimed in, tilting his head to the side in wonder.

Sabo shuddered, "I hope not." Ace looked at him with an unanswered question, Sabo quickly continued, "I don't want to be taking the life out of others, that would suck… pun not intended. Besides, blood tastes tangy."

Ace had agree with him on that, blood was certainly not the best thing he had ever tasted, "true, but it's worth a shot."

Sabo groaned, "you just want me to suffer, don't you?"

Ace smiled cheekily at him, "yep." He popped the 'p'.

"**I think it would be cool."** Luffy said, **"just imagine it, running around super quiet and stealthily, attacking people without them even realizing you were there, drinking their blood, turning into a bat and flying around, hey, do you think you could do that?" **he asked innocently.

"nope." Sabo said, "and I still hope I'm not a vampire, or if I am, that I don't have to drink blood all the time… this is going to be the worst." He whined.

"grow up, it's not the end of the world, wuss." Ace chimed in.

"well, you're not the one with really sharp teeth biting your lip every time you speak." Sabo retorted, biting his lip again. ouch, that hurt.

"…are you really doing that?" Ace asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sabo groaned again, "yes! and it hurts! Have I mentioned, my teeth are sharp!" he yelled in annoyance, biting his lip in the process, "ow!"

Ace and Luffy broke down laughing.

"hey! Don't laugh! It's not funny!" Sabo said, face reddening every second.

"**b-but, Sabo, it is!"** luffy said before breaking down into deep throttle laughs coming from his dragon throat. As a dragon, luffy has more vocal cords then any other creature in the world. It means he can have a very deep laugh or a high pitched one depending on his mood, as well as being capable to mimic pretty much every sound in existence. The trio realized what this could mean for the future, but really, none of them can look past it's practicalities for pranks. In his human form, luffy is only capable of using about half of the different vocal cords, enough to copy voices but not enough for animal calls or sounds that aren't related in anyway to a human voice.

Still, it was pretty funny when he pretended to be a guard, scaring a bunch of people everywhere. It was even better when they weren't sure which way they were supposed to be bowing to, to welcome a certain noble of certain status. It was hilarious, watching the people of mid-town bow down in every direction for no reason. And they just couldn't stop laughing when they realized the noble wasn't here and that it was just a prank.

They got a 1000 Beli bounty each out of that.

"no, it's not!" Sabo huffed, trying to contain his own laughter and succeeding for a change.

Ace and Luffy calmed down eventually and the trio continued into the forest towards one of their main hunting grounds.

"well, if I am a Vampire, which I still hope I'm not, we'll have to see what type of bloods I can and can't eat. For example, would I get away with only drinking animal blood or will only human blood satisfy me? things like that." Sabo informed Luffy.

Ace nodded why Luffy bobbed his head in understanding, his version of a nod. "makes sense. Either way, we'll have to see if you can control how much liquids you take from whatever it is you eat, that apple core was completely dried up."

Sabo sighed, "which is why I don't want to take human blood if I do end up being a vampire."

It was at this moment that luffy decided to run into the forest chasing after a human sized boar he had spotted. It squealed at the sight of the dragon and sprinted away, alerting surrounding creatures of the threat.

"Luffy, wait up!" Ace called, chasing after his younger brother, Sabo quick on his heals.

It took them a while to catch up to the Garp sized dragon, and when they did, he was holding the boar that he had been chasing before proudly in his jaws, handing by its back feet. The smaller animal was dead, while Luffy looked as happy as can be, tail swishing around cutting up some nearby trees in the process, eyes closed while he hummed a nonsensical song, swinging his head back and forth to the nonexistent rhythm.

"**I got it!"** Luffy cheered when he spotted his brothers.

"good job, Lu." Ace praised, taking the dead animal out of his jaw and handing it over to the blond.

Sabo eyed the boar carefully, before looking up at his brothers, "do I have to?" he whined.

"yes. Just be happy that if this doesn't work, your probably not a Vampire." Ace assured.

"and if it does?" Sabo questioned.

"**then you're a vampire."** Luffy said unhelpfully.

Sabo groaned, ducking his head out of sight. He opened his mouth wide, licking his lips. _This is going to be disgusting,_ he thought, bringing the boars neck up to his teeth. Sabo glanced at his brothers, Ace was grinning in anticipation while Luffy had gotten distracted by a butterfly, he was swatting at it and playing with the poor flying insect. Sabo would have laughed at how adorable the dragon was but held back because of what he was about to do to the animal carcass.

With the last bit of hesitation forcefully removed from his system, Sabo clenched his eyes shut and chomped down on the boar. Sabo's new teeth whipped into action, piercing the flesh and sinking down into veins, his teeth quickly drew out blood and released it into his mouth. At first, the tangy taste brought back unpleasant memories of his time back with the nobles, the beatings he got if he failed the lessons, but after a few seconds everything calmed down and he found himself enjoying the taste. It wasn't sweet by a long shot, but it wasn't unbearably unpleasant like he first though. Instead, it was delicious, he couldn't explain it no matter how hard he tried, after all, it still tasted the same, but now it was like he was different.

It felt so natural, Sabo couldn't help himself from sucking it dry, it was so delicious, he just couldn't help himself. It was ecstasy.

Partly because he was full, and partly because there was no more blood left in the animal, Sabo pulled his teeth out of the boar with a pop. A small stream of blood flowed out of the corner of Sabo's mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to wipe it off, he was still in the feeling of pure bliss. A feverish blush had creeped onto his face and his head felt hot, but not in a bad way.

He opened his eyes, Ace was standing in front of him with wide eyes, his previous grin was replaced with a gaping mouth in disbelief, Luffy was looking at him, and it sounded like he was giggling, weather it was at him or Ace, he couldn't tell, and honestly didn't want to with the way he was currently feeling. There was silence between the trio, broken by Ace.

"yep. Definitely a Vampire." He said, getting over his shock. Luffy blew hot air at him, making his hair stand on end, Ace looked like a pineapple, or possibly an echidna. "hey! Don't do that, Lu!" he shouted as he ruffled his dark locks back to the way there are meant to be.

Luffy giggled softly, something that looked completely wrong coming from a big, barrel chested dragon, and scooped up the boar at Sabo's feet. He ate it in one gulp.

"**urg, it'ss so dry."** He said with a scrunched-up face.

Sabo nodded absentmindedly, "hmm." He hummed, still enjoying the high the boar blood gave him.

Ace waved a hand in front of him, "Sabo? hey Sabo? can you hear me?" Sabo hummed in agreement, staring halfheartedly at Ace's face, it looks so pretty with those freckles. "are you aware that you have a trail of blood leaking out of you mouth?" Sabo nodded slowly, "and did you know you look silly with a blush?" he continued. Sabo couldn't find it within himself to retort, so he just nodded along. "and did you know your eyes are glowing a light pink?" Sabo shook his head. He tried taking a step forward, but his leg gave out beneath him, he felt so tired all of a sudden.

"oi! Sabo!" Ace called as he caught the blonde as he fell, making sure he didn't face plant the ground. "you okay?" he asked, wrapping a hand under Sabo's arms, holding him up. The blonde nodded in agreement again, not really recognizing the words being said.

Ace turned to Luffy, "hey, luffy, can you carry him? I think his head's in la-la-land." He stated, pulling the blonde to the dragon.

"**yep!"** chirped Luffy, ducking his head so Sabo could be placed on his back.

An hour or so later, Sabo was back on his feet. "w-what happened?" he asked, holding his head to ease a headache.

"oh, nothing much," Luffy started, he was back in his human form now, wearing blue shorts and a white shirt with the words Anchor on it, "you drank some boar blood, eyes turned pink, we carried you back here while you wouldn't stop moaning, then me an' ace went and collected some animals and made a pen. We got a horse, a chicken, a boar, a tiger, three goats, a tiny bear, a deer, and a goose." He finished cheerfully, evidently happy.

Sabo looked at him in confusion, "why do we have animals now?" he asked, still slightly confused. What was this about his eyes going pink? And why had he been moaning? That doesn't sound like him.

Luffy looked at him as if he was an idiot. "well, you're a vampire now, so we decided to get you some food." He said happily, "And ace wanted to experiment."

Sabo did a double take, "experiment?" he did not have a good feeling about this.

The raven nodded, "he said something about finding your likes and dislikes and seeing if different blood does different things. Or something like that. I wasn't paying much attention after 'lets go get animals for Sabo!'" Sabo nodded slowly in response.

"rrrrrriiiiight." He said at length.

It was this moment that Ace's head pupped up at the door, him still being on the rope ladder, "oi, Luffy! He awake yet?" he called.

"yep." Luffy called back.

"cool." Ace said, "hey Sabo, come over here when you're ready, I want to try something." he said with a grin that did not set Sabo's worries at ease.

"sure, but can you tell me what this 'experiment' is first?" he said, making his way to the rope ladder.

Ace shrugged, "yeah, it's nothing much, just wanted to see if you had any weird reactions to certain animal blood. When you drank from the Boar, you became completely unresponsive, the only things we got out of you were moans, groans and sometimes humming." Sabo blinked, that was actually a good reason.

"oh okay, sure. I can do that." He agreed, following Ace down the rope ladder.

When he looked around he found his eyes meeting two pens on opposite sides of the clearing, all the predators on one side and all the non-predators on the other. The boar, tiger, and bear were all in separate pens, the tiger looked asleep while the bear and boar where restless. The horse, chicken, three goats, deer and goose where all in their own pen, ignoring the others in the area, eating their own patch of grass without a care in the world.

* * *

**"omake"**

"WHOOO-HOOOOO!" Sabo yelled, using the vines to swing around the clearing.

Ace sighed yet again, marking the deer off the list. When they had started this, they had been surprised by the different reactions Sabo got out of eating different Animals, it was like blood is connected to his emotions now. they had been very worried when Sabo started wallowing in his own pit of sadness and self-pity after just a bite of crocodile. But, depending on the amount, the effects didn't last very long. Luckily, once the side-effects wore off, Sabo was back to normal, feeling fuller and happier than before. This was good as they had been afraid that Sabo would need lots of blood all the time to keep him full. They still needed to learn how long he can last without needing more blood, but they'll figure it out after they finish this side-effects chart.

So far from what they've figured out, Sabo's eyes will change color depending what animal he eats, then that color will determine what emotion he will feel until the effects wore off. for example: when Sabo ate a crocodile, his eyes glowed a deep blue and he became depressingly sad, a small storm cloud appearing above his head and everything.

Which brings them back to their current conundrum. Sabo drank from a deer ten minutes ago and his eyes turned green. He hasn't stopped bouncing off walls or swinging from vines since.

Ace knows that the effects will wear off soon and Sabo will be back to normal, but this is just getting so annoying now. For the last couple of hours, Sabo had taken him and Luffy on emotional roller-coaster and he just wanted it to end. Luffy seemed to be taking it very well, he was sitting next to him laughing at Sabo and he face planted the ground before getting back up again to climb a big tree and swing off it's branches like a monkey. He had way too much energy.

Ace looked down at what he had recorded so far, it was a basic list of the animals, what color his eyes changed to and what emotion It brought. Some of the emotions weren't half bad and could help them a lot later on, but others will just be a nuisance. Seriously, they don't need an angry Sabo, that's what he was there for.

He settled down for the rest of the wait, hoping Sabo doesn't injure himself too badly with his enthusiasm at learning to fly. At least Luffy was there to catch him.

_**animal eye color emotion**_

_-Horse -black -protectiveness_

_-Chicken -yellow -anxiety_

_-Boar -pink -__ecstasy_

_-Tiger -orange -anger_

_-Goat -white -boredom_

_-Bear -light blue -calmness_

_-Deer -light green -enthusiasm/energy_

_-Goose -brown -fear_

_-Crocodile -dark blue -sadness _

_-Fox -grey -envy_

_-Rabbit -purple -disgust_

_-Dragon -dark green -poisonous to Sabo_

_-Fae dark -green -sick_

* * *

**Tada! Do you like it? I think this is going well, please give me your opinions so I can make it better or not. **

**Also, just a heads up, next chapter will involve the start of the grey terminal fire as well as Sabo's horrible father, so get ready for some shitty parenting.**

**So yeah… enjoy!**


	3. Stolen and Alone

The man closed his eyes as he looked out the window.

The people outside the gate that lead to High Town were milling around too close to the wall, closer than he was comfortable with. They talked and spoke and _smelled_ like the animals they were, why couldn't they just do as there told? Stupid peasants, getting ahead of themselves, thinking they were so great when they were actually just pitiful failures of lifeforms.

He was disgusted by them.

And the worst thing is, his son was out there, all alone surrounded by them! It was all their fault, they should just die. They had infected _his_ son, _his_ property, and they were going to pay dearly. They had turned him into one of those creature, hideous, ugly,_ things_, so bloody when they eat.

All of it was because his grandfather was one of the Vampires. Now he, he was an upstanding Noble, kept many slaves and ruled with an iron fist over his property. Sadly, he was put down by some rebel pirate, or something like that. Even worst, his son was one of them, and he _refused_ to live the Noble way! Seriously, who doesn't want their own personal slave to do whatever they want with? Especially with him getting the bless genetics from the family tree.

Why couldn't he have a better son?

And with that, the noble turned back to his desk, planning out the ways he could end the peasants who corrupted his son into their dirty horrible world without ending them _all_. Where would he tax the money from, without them?

He was thinking, _fire_.

The celestial dragon was coming in two days, not only do they need to get rid of that horrible trash, people call it Grey Terminal, but he needed a gift for the all powerful noble, something grand and amazing most likely. But what would he want?

That thought stumbled him for a while, until he though, _celestial dragons like slaves, right?_ And with that, Mr outlook knew exactly what he was getting for the world noble.

_I wonder if he has a Vampire in his collection yet…_ after all, if his son was one of those beast and refused to be a proper noble, then he is no better then those animals from the slum he surrounds himself with.

* * *

Ace ran up to luffy and threw an overhead strike with his pipe. Luffy easily evaded even though he was ten times Ace's size. Luffy sat down with his chin up, making it obvious to the attacking pair that he didn't feel at all threatened in their advances. Sabo vaulted over Ace's back to get above the dragon, he was trying to get on top of him to a place Luffy couldn't reach… or at least they hoped he couldn't reach. Luffy caught him out of the air with his jaws, being careful not to close them too hard so he doesn't injure Sabo. in a real fight, Sabo would be dead right now.

Sabo was out.

Luffy placed him on the ground, not caring in the slightest that the blonde was now covered in slobber.

"ewww." Sabo complained, flicking it off him as he walked out of the way of the still fighting boys. Sabo sat down next to a tree and watch Ace relentlessly attack Luffy. It was no use, even when Ace brought out his wings and used them to get some superior mobility, he can't fly yet, Luffy still managed to toy with him.

"dammit!" Ace yelled.

Luffy brought his tail up above ace and hit him with it. Sending him into the dirt.

Ace tried to get up, Luffy hit him again. sitting in front of him without a care in the world, luffy giggled at his brother as he tried to stand again, only to be sent back into the dirt.

From the next ten minutes Ace couldn't even get a knee up or move a hand without being hit with a tail with the force of a Fist of Love, sending him into the dirt. After that, ace stopped trying to get up and seemed content staying right where he is, on the ground and in the dirt. Luffy giggled at him.

"I give." Ace said, slowly standing up without a tail hitting him this time. Luffy wrapped his tail around Ace, giving a hug in his dragon form.

That's another thing they've figured out about Luffy, he practically _craves_ physical affection. At least once a day both Sabo and Ace will get a hug in either of his forms, Luffy will demand to hold hands with someone whenever they go hunting, he loves piggy-back rides and doesn't mind giving them to Ace or Sabo when he's in his dragon form, and he absolutely adores sitting in their laps whenever they're not doing anything. If Sabo's reading him a book, you can almost certainly find Luffy sitting in his lap or laying down with his head in Sabo's lap, being petted and looked after by his older brother. If they're sleeping, Luffy will immediately force them into a pile and fall asleep with an arm or wing trapping them both, the first time he did this, they had been startled and tried to get free the entire night, but they gave up when he did the exact same thing the next night. Now, they have grown used to it.

The older boys think it's because he's a dragon. They read that dragons are very social creatures and will spend most of their time around others, they also found that dragons are not meant to leave the protection of their parents until they are at least 25-year-old, most staying until they were 40 or 50 years old. But don't think that's just them being lazy-stay-at-homes not wanting to go outside to face the wrath of the real world without the protection of their mothers, no, dragons have very long lives so a 50-year long childhood would be the equivalent of a 10 year one for humans. Luckily, Luffy's human form will grow at a semi believable rate, so he won't look like and ten-year-old when he's 50.

Instead, he'll look 20.

And will probably stay in his 'twenties' for a good century or two.

They would have been worried about him getting lonely after all those years without anyone else for company if they hadn't figured out that the other two also had long lifespans. Ace could probably live for a few centuries if he tried hard enough to live healthy, and Sabo is practically immortal if he gets enough blood.

So yeah, lucky them.

"**I win."** The fire dragon commented, swinging his tail back and forth, Ace still in it, and nudging Sabo with his chin.

"whooow-" Ace said as he went back and forth.

"yes, you did." Sabo said dryly, pushing Luffy's head away from him.

"please make it stop!" Ace called, "ah! No! don't put me upside-down! No Luffy! Bad!"

"**so, you ganna read me a book now?" **Luffy asked, ignoring his brothers pleads as he put his brother upside-down, tightening his grip slightly so he wouldn't escape.

Sabo rolled his eyes, "_after_ we go scavenging in grey terminal." He said, swatting Luffy's head when it tried to nudge him in the opposite direction.

"**I said it was an accident."** Luffy defended.

"I know," Sabo started, "but we still need to fix the wall you broke, and that means more wood and nails. And to get that, we need to go to Grey terminal, so come on. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can read you that book you found on fairies." Sabo stalked off into the forest in the direction of Grey Terminal, well aware that his brothers will follow soon after.

Luffy cheered, putting Ace on the ground and transformed into a human. He held his arm out for Ace, who quickly supplied him with spare clothes, and they chased after Sabo as soon as Luffy was dressed correctly, he got his Shorts backwards the first time.

The first time they had brought Luffy here he had covered his nose and exclaimed how bad the smell was. But he had grown used to it and could ignore how much it messed with his senses. When he is here, he relies on his hearing and sight more than his smell. He just loved his smell the most.

"hey look what I found!" Luffy called, holding up a telescope for the others to see.

"that's cool." Said Ace, without looking up, he was trying to pull or a disobedient piece of wood, not that he can blame it, he would do the same thing in its position.

Sabo nodded in agreement, assuming Ace had looked up and had commented on luffy's new thing. so, he didn't have too, he was busy loading things into the cart they were using to carry everything back and forth to their treehouse.

Luffy pouted, enthusiasm disappearing quickly, "you could have at least looked." He said, clutching his new thing before turning around to find something else that's shiny, maybe a coin or a nail or something.

He cheered up when he spotted a shiny thing. He didn't know what it was, but it looked valuable, he reached out to get it, it was stuck under a pile of garbage. Luffy pulled on the shiny object, trying to loosen it and wriggly it out. At first, nothing happened, but slowly, it began to move back and forth, making it so he could get it out.

It jerks out of the garbage heap with a 'pop', sending the precariously stacked things above it scattering. Luffy looked at his new shiny thing, it looked like a pole but had a gem imbedded on the top and jewels scattered in very deliberate spots across the length of the staff. It shined in the sunlight, a bit dull but that was because of the dirt covering it, Luffy instantly loved it and wanted to add it to the collection at home… not that he has a collection of long shiny sticks, oh no, he has a collection of shiny thing, and what wonderful shiny things they are.

Luffy smiles and starts to head back, marveling at his newfound thing. He wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings, just enough to find his brothers again, and he bumped into a large man. Luffy looked up at the man, he was wearing long dark blue pants with a gun tucked into them, his shirt consisted of an open vest, dirty too, and he had a blue captains coat to match. He hair was pulled away from his forehead, making it look like streaks, and it flowed freely at his back. The smile he gave Luffy sent shivers running down his spine, he didn't like this guy.

He eyed the gem imbedded scepter in Luffy's hands and immediately grabbed him, "now where did you get that, boy."

"Let me go!" Luffy yelled, wriggling as much as he could in the pirate's arms.

"sorry, kid," the pirate said in a way that made him sound definitely not sorry, "but I've got a job to do." He threw Luffy behind him, at first the boy was ecstatic at being free, planning to run back to his brothers as soon as he landed, but then one of the men flanking the first caught him and stole his scepter, tied him up and threw him over his shoulder. A rough piece of fabric was put into his mouth and Luffy found it hard to breath, let alone speak. He was gagged. the pirates continued on their way to… wherever they were going.

He knew he could get out of this easily, all he would have to do is turn into a dragon, eat them or run away, preferably eat them as he is hungry right now and Sabo told him if anyone other them his brothers saw him transform, they would hunt him down relentlessly. And he made a promise. he promised that he would only transform into a dragon in the direst of situations or if he has his brother's permission. And he never breaks promises.

So luffy hung there, being the worst possible prisoner the pirate would ever hold. He wouldn't stop moving and every chance he got he would kick out and hit the man, he didn't even stop when the evil man threw him onto the ground and started beating him up. This was fine.

Because he knew his brothers would come for him.

They picked him up again and continued their trek though the piles of trash.

The pirates rose above a crest in the mountain of trash, spotting the two other boys who were searching the trash for something, judging by the worried glances they shared and the occasional shout of his name, luffy could tell they were looking for him. as soon as they saw him, each of them had drawn their pipes and were ready to attack.

"give Luffy back, Bluejam!" Ace yelled at the pirate in charge.

The now named Bluejam grinned evilly, "why of course, brat. But first, how about we make a trade, this one for the noble." At that, Sabo froze up, clenching the pipe in his hand even harder. Ace snarled at the man.

"never!" he yelled, before charging forward. Bluejam didn't even looked fazed.

"now, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Bluejam drew his pistol and locked it on Ace's head, seeing this, Ace and Sabo ducked to the side, but both still getting closer and closer to the brother-thief. Noticing his plan didn't work in the slightest, Bluejam growled before moving the barrel of his gun to the side of Luffy's head.

The two advancing boys froze.

They would happily risk their lives, sure, especially for their little brother, but no, never ever would they resort to risking Luffy's life. And as such, Bluejam just got his best hostage, a dragon stuck in a human form, but a hostage, nonetheless.

Bluejam laughed at their actions, "you two sure like this kid, don't you." he said. "well, lucky for you, I don't need him. however, I do need the blonde, so how about you hand yourself over and I'll give you the little brat." He threatened.

Sabo was the first to speak, ace had no clue what to do except kill this man, but he can't do that with Luffy in the way, "why do you want me." he hissed, that's right, Sabo hisses now. fun fact, he only directs it at those he wants to brutally murder in their sleep, pour pirate, he won't be alive by the end of the week.

"daddy dearest wants he son to come home. Away from all the 'humans', as he put it." Bluejam teased, the people behind him laughing with him. the boy's faces hardened, they did not want to let Sabo go there, and Sabo himself did not want to go back there under any circumstances.

"_why_." The voice that came out of Sabo's mouth was one that the other two boys had never heard. It was a snarl that voiced in every way possible that he _didn't_ want to do whatever they were demanding.

The pirate was not impressed and ignored all the death threats coming from Ace's glare and Sabo's entire posture. "sorry, dearie, that's not in my paycheck. And I don't think it matters to you if you want the little brat free. Now do as I say before I lose my patience!" he yelled, cocking the gun at Luffy's head.

"Luffy!" the free boys shouted, worried for their brother, Luffy responded with some grunts and some wriggling, showing the others that he was fine, for now.

Sabo gritted his teeth and looked down at his pipe, he really shouldn't do this, but right now he has no choice. "_fine_." He said, still snarling, "I go with you, just let Luffy go first."

"no don't!" Ace yelled; he was ignored.

Bluejam didn't take the gun away from their brother's head, "not goin' ta happen kid. I want to see you in ropes before I let this pipsqueak go."

Sabo's eyes darkened, and not just by the shadow cast by the edge of hit top hat, no, they literally darkened, glowing a pitch black. _The color for overprotectiveness,_ Ace realized. He didn't know they could come out without the help of animal blood. Damn, they would have to experiment some more later, to figure this all out.

But that's later, for now, they need luffy back.

"Sabo, don't do it, we can get Luffy out some other way." Ace tried.

Sabo spun to him, eyes going a bright orange, _anger_, "and how do we do that! What do you suggest! He has Luffy at gun point and will only let him go at the cost of me. there is _nothing_ we can do." His eyes returned to normal. He threw his pipe on the ground, closer to Ace then Bluejam. What? He really liked that pipe!

"good choice." The pirate said, evoking more laughter from the people behind him.

Ace held his pipe tighter, "we can win this Sabo, you don't have to go back to that hell hole." He attempted. "Luffy could-" he was cut off.

"And What! Ace? Luffy could what? After all is said and done, he will be hunted down by _everybody_. Do you really want that? Just because I didn't go back to my bastard of a father?!" he yelled.

Ace responded to his anger in kind, "if it means keeping us together, then yes!" he yelled, grabbing Sabo's shirt in his arm, "I'm not going to leave you with the horrible people you hate! I'm not going to let these pirate walk all over us! And I will never abandon you or luffy for some sacrificial plan!"

Neither of the two said anything for a moment, Ace being too angry to express everything in words, and Sabo being too caught up in his own wild emotions and realizations to respond. The pirates watched on the sidelines laughing at the brotherly strife they caused by separating them, oh, they were so going to have fun with this.

Ace let go of Sabo's shirt when he saw that he hasn't changed his mind, his eyes a deep black. They both knew he didn't want to do this, and they both knew the place he was going was worse than hell, especially for Sabo, but they both knew they needed to do this for Luffy. Luffy was more important than they could possibly imagine, and not for some stupid reason like he's a dragon, no, not at all. Luffy was their little brother and it's their job as older brothers to protect him, and what a wonderful job they've done of that so far. They would give anything up for Luffy and they both knew it.

Sabo's eyes turned deep blue, "just… just come get me tonight. Don't leave me there too long."

And that was the crux of the matter, they could get Sabo out later, but they couldn't get Luffy out now. they had to get their priorities straight. Sabo can survive being held in the custody of his father for a few hours if it means getting luffy out of there.

"I would never leave you in that hell hole." Ace said sternly.

Sabo nodded before turning back to Bluejam, who was now laughing his head off at the brothers. What he found funny, they didn't know, but he was laughing nonetheless, and they couldn't find it within themselves to care.

"I'll go with you, just let Luffy be free." Sabo repeated walking closer to the pirate, holding his hands out for them to put the cuffs on his wrists. They quickly oblige and tie his hands up, leaving a cord to make sure he can't run away. Ace watched it all happen, clenching his fists and just waiting for the moment Bluejam steps out of line, giving him a reason to tell Luffy to transform, even if that will cause them all to be hunted for the rest of their lives. He would do anything for his brothers.

Bluejam tugged on the rope fastening Sabo's wrist together before signaling his men to leave, as they left, the man holding Luffy threw him at Ace, making them both fall over with a grunt. As soon as Ace got luffy of him, he started untying the rope, pulling the gag out first.

"Ace! They took Sabo!" he cried.

"I-I know. And we will get him back. I promise."

Luffy nodded at him older brother seriously, Promises were very important to the trio; you never broke a promise. and anyone who does, is dead to them. if someone can't keep a promise, it shows they didn't go to all their possible efforts to make it true, they weren't trying hard enough. If someone breaks a promise, the brothers never believe a word from their mouth again, unless they prove they're trustworthy. Which is hard after proving you're not.

The brothers only make promises they can keep.

"y-yeah. We'll get him back. He's our brother." Luffy agreed.

Pulling his little brother to his feet, Ace said, "now let's go into town, it will be easier to sneak into High Town after dusk."

"yeah!" Luffy cheers, leading the way to town.

While they were there, they kept low, not wanting to alert the authorities of their presence before they got their brother back. They can do that later, after their breakout, but for now, hiding in the shadow and trying to find where Sabo's cage of a home is, is at the top of their list.

It took them a while but Luffy eventually followed Sabo's scent to a tall mansion next to other almost identical mansions. The differences where in the stupid colors they were painted in as well as whatever decorations where hanging off it. The one they wanted had a flag with a flower-like emblem on it, the walls where a bright white color, as if telling the world that it was shear purity and would never be any less, of course, it's the opposite in reality, the noble family was a curse upon the world and should be obliterated for taking Sabo away from them.

And the boys will probably get their way by the end on the night.

They sat in a tree across the road and behind the wall from the mansion, not even attempting to get closer without the night first. The two brothers played card games while they waited for the sun to set. Ace was winning by a massive lead and Luffy still didn't know completely what in the world they were playing. But it was fun.

Now all they needed was a missing brother.

* * *

Sabo clutched the side of his cage, not believing what just happened.

First, he had been brought to his 'house', otherwise referred to as hell, the noble shithole, or prison, and been dragged off by the maid servant to be washed and cleaned. His mother wouldn't look at him while he was still wearing his peasant clothes, not that he minded in the slightest, in fact, he wished they would ignore him as much as possible, it would make his escape easier. The clothes he was wearing weren't peasant-like to begin with, so he doesn't get why his mother is complaining, it was more like really comfortable noble wear, but they would never admit that. Once he was clean and dry, he was dressed up in some stupid shit the maid servant came in with, tight blue long-sleeve button up shirt, long thick constricting black pants, they made it hard to move, fancy shiny shoes with too much polish and pointed ends, it would be easier to run bear footed then in these things, and a black evil looking cloak with a high neck piece.

At least they let him keep the hat.

All in all, he isn't totally against the new design, but he doesn't practically like it. If they had it in comfortable clothes, he might wear it. Either way, the shoes are going as soon as possible. but as it stands, these are worse than his original things he grew up with – and no, he doesn't mean the one's he had with his brothers, he means the ones he wore before turning 4 and running away.

After getting dress, his father came in and dragged him off to the basement, he didn't know why he needed to go there, but compiled with minimum complain, his brothers were coming for him, all he had to do was endure and wait. The basement was dark, but Sabo had no problem seeing, sometimes night vision does come in handy, The staircase is well maintained, of course, and the floor below is stone. The room was empty except for a crying man in the corner, dressed in rags and chained to the wall, he looked like he hasn't had a decent meal in ages. Which is probably likely, given the family he's staying with. The room also smelt of rotten blood, like it had been spilled when it was still fresh but now had gone off completely.

Sabo really didn't like where this was headed.

His father threw him into the room and said, "you're not coming out of here until you've eaten from him, Vampire." gesturing to the man chained to the wall. And then he left, locking the trapdoor behind him.

With cold dread, Sabo turned around and looked at the poor man, he was starving, thirsty, and tired. He stared at Sabo as if seeing his worst nightmare and best dream in his life at the same time – he likely wishes to die, just hopes it to be a quick death. Sabo hate the way his father has treated this person, tortured the guy until he dropped then waited for him to try and run away to begin his torture again. It was cruel and inhuman, and now he wants Sabo to eat him.

Sabo put his hands out, showing that he was friendly, "hey, I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Sabo, what is yours?" he said, attempting to make conversation with him.

He didn't speak. The person kept his eyes on Sabo, or more specifically, the pointy teeth that revealed themselves every time he spoke.

Sabo made himself comfortable on the ground opposite the chained man, the stairs where in his sight but not too far away that he wouldn't be able to make a daring escape as soon as it opened. Now that his brother wasn't in danger, he had no qualms about running away, right back to where he belonged, at the sides of his brothers. But for now, he had to wait for them to get him, there was no way he could unlock the trapdoor, and If he did, he wouldn't be able to get the heavy thing off of it, judging by the scraping noises coming for the stairway. Then after that, he would have to deal with the armed bodyguards his father hired, he doesn't know why but its probably because he has a vampire in his basement, and the noble army. Their only role in life is to protect the nobles and kill everyone else as they have been deemed unworthy because of their social statues and fortune.

Sabo sighed as he looked at the man on the other side of the dark cell, he could see perfectly well but he doubted the other man could.

"look, I don't know what your problem is with me, but can you stop staring? It's creeping me out." He said, dragging his hand down his face, he can't wait to get out of here.

The man's gaze immediately went to the floor. No one spoke for a while, and Sabo was content with the silence, not wanting to make the man even more uncomfortable with his presence. He obviously didn't like him, and if he was a betting man, he would bet that it's because he is a vampire, a blood suck beast with the only intention of eating him alive and steeling whatever remains of his life.

He would never do that, of course, but the guy doesn't know that, and no matter how many times he could explain it, he doubted the man would listen. Let alone believe him.

"Are you going to eat me?" the timid voice asked weakly. As soon as he spoke, the man hid behind his arms, curling up into an even tighter ball.

"No!" Sabo shouted, looked as if he had seen a ghost. He knew that was what the man was probably thinking, but he didn't believe the man would actually say it. This didn't help the man as he curled up even tighter at the sound of his voice.

Trying to give a little more reassurance, Sabo continued, "Just for your information, I only drink animal blood. and I won't need to…_ eat_… for another 2 days." He huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He could still eat normal food, it just didn't give him as much sustenance as blood, it was like eating only bread and nothing else, unhealthy and sickening. Though he still ate food for the enjoyment and pleasure it gives him. After all, with Ace's efforts into cooking going well, food tastes amazing now. he wouldn't give it up for the world.

He just needs to drink blood more often then he needs to eat food.

"my brothers will get me out of here soon, so you don't have to be afraid of me." Sabo continued, looking up at the roof. There was no light coming down from the house above, but he likes to imagine that if he stared at it long enough, maybe he will see the sky. Sitting next to his brothers watching the clouds pass and the stars coming out. The moon bright in the night's darkness, washing away all their worries.

"b-but you're a monster." The man hesitantly says, making Sabo sigh.

"no, I'm not, I'm a Vampire. And that probably makes no difference to you, does it." Sabo says rhetorically. The man shakes his head. "look, I don't want to be here just as much as you, so could you stop being so afraid on me? I know your scared, but I'll get you out of here later, okay?"

The man doesn't answer for a few moments, "o-okay."

The two sit in silence for a while until the both eventually fell asleep from their exhaustion. Sabo wasn't sure how long it's been since he arrived, but he is pretty sure it's nighttime now, or at least he hoped so. As his eyes closed wearily, only one thought passed his mind, _'Ace, Luffy. Where are you…'_

* * *

"hey! Let go of me!" Luffy yelled at the guards that had found them. they were about to go and get Sabo out of the horrible place nobles call home, but the guards had snuck up behind them, snapping cuffs on them before they noticed and started dragging them away before they could say anything. When they acknowledged what the hell just happened in the last few seconds, the brothers started yelling at the top of their lungs at the guards. Just maybe, they might listen to them for once.

"let go of him!" Ace yelled at the guard dragging Luffy, he didn't even care that a guard what painfully pulling on his arm, almost dislocating it, all that mattered to him was that someone was holding luffy against his will and that he needs to get him out of there.

"shut up you brats." One of the guards said, ignoring their cries of protest. In a normal fight, the boys would have won, but that's because of their extra traits granting them superior strength as well as their skills at hunting and fighting. In a disadvantageous situation like this, the boys couldn't win. They were taken by surprise, which is something that doesn't normally happen but it did, probably because they were so distracted by their missing brother, then their arms were tied behind their backs with rough metal cuffs, and the were being dragged on the ground in a way that made it impossible to stand up, let alone fight.

"Let us go!" shouted luffy uselessly. One of the guards hit the yelling boy on the head. It didn't hurt much, but it stilled happened, giving Ace even more reason to attack these brother-hurters.

"Don't hit him, you Bastards!" Ace yelled, growling like an animal at the guard.

The guard, he had a short brown beard and yellow eyes, looked bemused, "oh? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He said mockingly, "here, how about I do _this!"_ the guard kicked Luffy in the stomach, forcing him to cough out spit, "or_ this_!" the guard raises his pole arm and brings the blunt end down on Luffy. A deafening crack sounds down the street. Ace knows that it wasn't Luffy's head that crack, that it was the pole arm that broke, but no one hits his brother.

He saw red. "DON'T HIT MY BROTHER YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" he yells loudly, thrashing at his restraints harder to get free and _kill_ these ignorant, stupid, evil, bad humans who dare to lay a finger on his sweet, innocent brother. "AAARRG! Let me go so I can kill you, you bastards!" Ace yelled.

The guards laugh. The one dragging Luffy responded, "and why would we do that, twerp?" he asked rhetorically.

"DON'T CALL ME TWERP! SHITHEAD!" Ace insulted, causing the guards to laugh more.

Seeing that the guards obviously weren't going to let them go, Ace looked over at luffy who was grumbling how much his head hurt now. "oi, luffy." Ace called out to his younger brother, trying to get his attention.

"mmnn." Luffy mumbled, his head hurt a lot, the guard was strong. Most people would have been knocked unconscious or dead from that blow, but Luffy's head just hurt.

"you ok?" Ace asked, trying to ignore the laughter and mocking words of the guards as they made fun of him and his brother.

Luffy nodded. "yeah." He mumbled, scrunching up his face in pain. He has dealt with worse and wont cry and could totally get up and fight with all his energy if he needed to help his brother, but that doesn't take away the fact that it really, really hurts. As it is now, all the things Luffy was thinking about were his brothers, how much his head hurts and Meat.

What? He was hungry.

The guards dragging them halted in front of the large stone gate leading out to Grey Terminal. They opened the gates before throwing them into the rubbish piles just outside, not even undoing their restraints.

"try and survive this!" one of the guards yelled at them.

"we live here! Its not that hard, your self-righteous shit-holes!" Ace yelled back, checking over Luffy to make sure he's okay. He may be a dragon, but that doesn't mean he wont worry about him, he is his little brother after all. seeing everything was fine with his little brother and helping him too his feet as much as he could, it didn't really help though as it was hard to help with his arms shackled behind your back and ankles chained together. Luffy was in the same position as him, so they both had trouble standing.

"no, not this hell hole! We're talking about what comes next!" the first guard yelled back. The other laughed as they shut the gate closed behind them.

Ace growled, "come on, luffy. Let's go back home and get these cuffs off. Then we can go get Sabo." he spoke with such conviction that there was no doubt in his mind that they would be getting Sabo back, no if, but or maybe. They will get him back. Even if they have to kill every one of those stupid uptight bastards of nobles in existence.

Luffy nodded, humming in agreement as he slowly followed Ace in the general direction of the treehouse, stumbling on his chains every now and again. Ace tried hiding his own stumbles, but it was hard when it happened every couple of minutes, so Luffy noticed eventually. At least he didn't face fault the ground like luffy did. So that was something.

**BOOM!**

The two brothers were about half-way through Grey Terminal when the first explosion went off, followed quickly by many more, but they didn't hear them over their own blasting eardrums, sent ringing by the first explosion. it was off to their left and shot a shockwave that sent the two boys flying into the garbage mountains, quickly heating up from the nearby fires that had started because of the explosions.

"LUFFY!" Ace yelled in worry.

"ACE!" Luffy yelled back.

Soon enough, their vision was clouded by a sea of red burning flames, smoke filled their lungs and cooked them from the insides, more so Ace then Luffy as the younger boy breathed fire. Luffy formed some scales on his fleshy body to keep him safe from the red-hot flames licking at his sides, not really minding how his lungs were contaminated with smoke that wasn't his own, for him there was no permanent damage that a fire could deal, but that couldn't be said for Ace.

"ace! You okay!?" he called in the sea of flames.

Ace clenched his eyes shut as smoke rammed into his face, burning his eyes and lungs. He couldn't cover his mouth from the horrid fumes as his hands were chained behind his back, and he couldn't get to the safety Luffy could provide in a fire as he couldn't see. Ace tripped over something laying on the ground, just avoiding a deadly flame dancing above his head. The garbage he was laying on scorched his skin, making it unbearably hot. If it wasn't for Luffy awkwardly pulling him out of the flames, he would've had some serious lasting burns.

After a bad coughing fit, Ace called back to the brother that was supporting him. "y-yeah, *cough* I'm fine. You?"

"flames don't harm me." Luffy looked around them, trying to spot a way out, "I'll lead the way out of this, them we can go get Sabo."

"right."

Ace coughed as he followed Luffy away from the larger flames, the younger guiding the older to the safest place he could find away from the first explosion. soon enough, the pair found themselves in a clearing that is yet to catch fire. The air was still filled with smoke and the sky-high flames still surrounded them, but they were no longer standing in the heart of the fire. Luffy patted out a patch of his skin and tore off his shirt, it was on fire and was slowly smoldering. Ace's shirt was in a similar condition and he had some seriously bad burns arching across his back, but he could deal with that later, for now he had to get these chains off so they could get away.

Spotting a broken hair clip in the nearby burning garbage, Ace quickly hobbled over to it and started to pick at the lock around his wrists. Luffy stood in front of him, protecting him from the flames as he concentrated on the difficult work.

Luffy's scales glowed bright red from the proximity of the heat, the fire never burnt through the almost indestructible scales, but they heated them up to a pleasant warmth, as far as Luffy cared. If he could help Ace, he would. Even if that meant stopping a fire or jumping into a volcano. He can do it and he will, for his brothers.

"got it!" Ace cheered, instantly starting work on the cuffs on his ankles. As he could see what he was doing, more or less, the chains came off much faster. As soon as he was free, Ace started on Luffy's cuffs, ankles first then hands. In a few minutes, Ace's lock-picking skills proved superior and Luffy was free. Luffy rubbed his wrists, before forming his scales over that spot.

"come on, lets get out of here!" Luffy yelled over the roar of the flame, grabbing Ace's hand and dragging him through the first opening he saw in the wall of fire. Ace didn't protest, only covering his mouth with his hand and breathing through it for clearer air. His eyes were partially closed, only open enough to see his feet below him but nothing more. He knew Luffy was immune to this, so he focused more on standing up straight, putting one foot in front of the other and breathing instead of worrying about the safety of his littlest brother.

Luffy stopped for a second before charging off in a different direction, guiding ace through the gaps. Eventually they came to a stop on the edge of the fire, near the forest, which had surprisingly not caught on fire. There was a group of bandits in their way and it took a few seconds to recognize them as Dadan's Bandits, he only recognized him because she was commanding them like a proper bandit leader should… though, what they were doing was anything but the ordinary.

"Men! Lead the survivors out of the fire and dunk the lucky bastards in the river! Anyone who spots our brats and gets them out of there gets extra dinner tonight! Now go!" Dadan yelled, pointing to the biggest opening in the fire. The majority of the bandits bellowed a roar of agreement and ran into the fire, clothes soaking wet and cloths over their mouths. As soon as they were gone, the remaining Bandits started clearing out a space for them to use as an emergency treatment site. Dogra, Ace remembered, was a doctor by trade and quickly got out his supplies needed to treat burn wounds. He would treat anyone who came, no cost, as his vow to his trade dictates. That was the thing Ace liked the most about the Bandits, if someone made a promise or a vow, they would never break it.

Something all three of the boys held in high regard.

Luffy dragged Ace over to the bandit setup, there wasn't anything exiting about it, no tents or beds, just a sheet or two on the ground for Dogra's patients in a large circle of cleared space.

"Dadan!" Luffy yelled, gaining the instant attention of the female leader, "help Ace!"

Checking the two boys over as they approached, Dadan noticed that Luffy was practically uninjured, not a single burn wound in sight, the next thing she noticed was that he was covered in red scales, on his arms, chest, cheeks and legs, his eyes has shrunken into splits and had turned a deep crimson and black. He stared down Dadan with an intent that forced her to listen, like she didn't have a choice in helping Ace or not. Not that she wasn't going to in the first place, they were her brats first and foremost.

After looking over Luffy, she moved onto Ace. He looked worst for wear, with red blotches of skin poking out everywhere, obvious marks of a burn, coughing and choking on the air around him, eyes sealed shut with tears trying to peak out the edges. He wouldn't let them fall, even though it burns, after all tears were for crybabies. He has had better days, this, Dadan knew.

"luffy! Ace! Your alive! Where's that Sabo brat?" she asked, shocked that the boys they were looking for appeared all by themselves from within the inferno.

Not that she should be surprised, the brats had been completely independent since very early on. especially ace.

The boys faces darkened at the mention of the third brat, Luffy was the one to speak as Ace was still choking slightly on smoke, "Nasty pirates took him to his noble father. He doesn't want to be there and we where going to break him out, but we got caught. Dadan, Sabo still there, all alone! We need to save him!" Luffy pleaded, worry sinking into his expression.

Dadan crouched down, placing her hands on the scaled boy's shoulder, idly noticing that the Scales where soft but not sharp, they had a light velvet feel to it and Dadan couldn't shake the feeling that they aren't supposed to feel like that, she looked the brat in the eyes and said, "Luffy, calm down. We need to treat Ace first, then we can go break Sabo out of his father's house. Okay? Good. Now, go take Ace to Dogra and come over here to help me get people out of this fire. Can you do that for me? good." Luffy nodded when Dadan asked, agreeing to help the strangers in the fire if it meant she would treat Ace.

Luffy dragged Ace over to Dogra, he had finally blinked away the smoke in his eyes and could now see and speak clearly, or at least understandably. Dogra was quick to lay Ace down on the sheet set up, washing his wounds with an alcohol to disinfect it before applying a thick yellowish cream to his burns. All the while ignoring Ace's cries of protest that he doesn't need treating and that he's fine, he would live. Dogra continued, knowing Ace wasn't fine, after all, he could hold him down without the help of any other Bandit, if that didn't scream 'injured' then he doesn't know what does.

As soon as Luffy saw that Ace was fine, he went back to Dadan. He looked her in the eyes, "he'll be fokay, right?" him being completely serious was odd, but not unexpected, after all, Ace was his brother. and he cared for his brothers.

Dadan nodded, "I promise."

Luffy stared at the Bandit leader for a few moments more before a wide grin spread across his face and he visibly relaxed, "you better keep that promise." he said happily. Turning to the roaring fire, "so, I just have to get people out of the fire, right?"

Dadan nodded, "yep, bring them here when you find them. we'll treat them and send them on their way when this all dies down. I'm sure those scales of yours can help…no matter what creature you are, if it can help, I accept you. got that brat?" she said with a stern tone.

Luffy nodded, smiling brightly because he just got accepted by the Bandit leader, most other Humans he met tried to get rid of him on site, maybe she was different. Hmmmm, He decided he'll give her a chance after this. After all, she saved his brother, and is going out of her way to save other people trapped in the fire.

And just like that, Luffy sprinted back into the inferno, helping the nice Bandits save people, not even caring that he was revealing his biggest secret to the world, his dragon heritage.

He had a job to do and nothing was going to stop him.

* * *

Hey guys, hope you liked it. Now, I know that my resent chapters have all been posted within a week, but from now on, it will take a bit longer (I haven't written the chapters in advance). Sad news, I know, sorry. ;P

Anyway, I have an important question for all of you; should luffy have a devil fruit (if he does, it's going to be the gum gum no mi).

Other then that, see you next time 😊


	4. For Freedom

**This is the responses for the question I asked in the previous chapter, 'should luffy have a devil fruit?'**

**Yes: 2**

**No: 3**

* * *

Sabo blinked his eyes open in the darkness of the basement as the trapdoor above creaked open. He pushed himself up into a seating position and glared at his father and the two armed guards that followed after him. one of the guards trained his gun on him while the other blocked the stairway, not letting a single chance slide for his escape.

Sabo growled low in his throat at him, mentally silencing his need for blood. It had been three days since he got trapped here and he was starting to get hungry. His cellmate noticed this the day before and hasn't made a single noise that might make him look delicious, he stayed awake throughout the night to make sure he wasn't attacked, not that he could do anything if he was, after all he is chained to the wall. But at least it put his mind at rest… sort of, now the guy was sleep deprived.

Sabo, however, got every speck of sleep he could since it helps him to ignore the pang in his stomach demanding to be fed. Neither of them had been given food in their stay, not that they expected it either, nobles didn't see them as something worthy to be fed, just as a side attraction. Nothing more, nothing less. And if being hungry made it more amusing for them, then hungry they shall be.

Simple as that.

_Stupid Bastards_. Sabo cursed.

His _Father_ ignored his glare in favor of looking away in disgust, "you still haven't eaten your food? Brat, if I didn't need you alive, you would have been dead long ago. You should be thankful that I have let you live this long." He said smugly, looking down at the Vampire in the corner. Quickly approaching the weak monster, Mr. Outlook kicked Sabo across the chin, earning a grunt in pain for his efforts as he fell to the floor. "now _beg_ for your life!" the man said, slamming his fine black shoes into Sabo's head.

Sabo closed his eyes in pain, this wasn't the first time it had happening in the last three days. It seemed that his sperm donor came down here every chance he got to beat him up for fun, the sick bastard.

"let me go." Sabo said through gritted teeth, not for the first time Mr. outlook kicked him in the stomach, forcing his to cry out in pain and cough up saliva. It hurt, there was no doubt about that.

Damn, Sabo wished he would get rid of those steal caps on his shiny shoes, they hurt like hell.

After a beating that felt like forever, his father eventually grabbed him by the cuff of his neck, Sabo's head lolling forward from its own weight and his exhaustion and dragged him over to the other person in the cell. The guy had been trying to stay as silent as possible, hopeful that maybe they would ignore him like the rest of their visits. But not this time.

The prisoner tried to crawl away as much as he could when attached to the wall, it was a feeble attempt at best, not even getting half a meter away. he looked up at the noble and the vampire in fear, and somehow, he already knew what was going to happen. He closed his eyes, imagining he was back home with his wife and kid, working day in and day out to support his family, working in the local clinic helping the doctor. Maybe he could just wake up from this nightmare and move on, maybe this wasn't happening, and he wasn't about to lose his life because of a noble and his vampire brat, maybe, just maybe…

It was all for naught as the noble grabbed Sabo's hair, pulling his head back roughly. He let out a yell of pain but could do nothing about it. He may be a vampire, but he was tired and hungry, along with the fact that he has only been a vampire for a few mouths and doesn't really know everything he can do, doesn't help. As his jaw opened from the yell and his teeth were revealed, Sabo's Father shoved his head into the other prisoner's neck, sinking his teeth into his blood stream unconsciously. His father jerky movement caused his teeth to rip apart the man's neck, killing him almost instantly in a state of pain and shock. The noble backed off, motioning to the two guards to leave, they followed him upstairs, leaving the door open for some reason.

But Sabo couldn't seem to care right now.

His teeth humming in joy and excitement, sinking into the delicious blood and draining as much as he could in mere seconds. He knew he didn't want to do this but the pleasant feeling the blood in his mouth brought held back all thought of stopping. It was amazing.

The blood spread through his parched mouth making him groan happily. His eyes blurred for a moment, a deep crimson filmed covered them but somehow it made his vision better then before, he could see clearer, and sharper. Pinpoint everything to the finest detail. It was ecstatic.

After draining the man dry, Sabo lot his limp body fall to the ground and stood up, noticing that all his wounds had healed over and he felt amazing and exhilarated. Breathing deeply, Sabo licked his lips, wanting more. now that he had a taste, he couldn't let this go, couldn't ignore what he needed, animal blood would no longer satisfy him, only human blood would do. Nothing could supplement that, not ever. After all, you can't replicate perfection.

Then the world caught up with him.

Sabo choked back a sob as he looked down at his hand. The crimson film over his eyes left, clearing his vision and bringing back colours other the red into his life again. His hands were covered in the blood of the man he just _ate_. The thick red substance on his fingers, taunting him, blaming him for what he has done. Sadly, Sabo couldn't completely rid himself of the thought that called out to him to eat it, savour the remaining bit of his meal.

A tear ran down Sabo's face as he crumpled in on himself, his legs giving out beneath him. He fell to the floor, eyes never once leaving his hands, blood soaked and dirty as they are. Another sob rocked his body, he didn't even try to hold it back this time, letting himself fall into quiet sob as he drowned himself in tears, disgusted in himself and what his father just made him do. He promised he wouldn't eat the man, and he did.

He just killed someone.

_Murderer_! His mind helpfully supplied. _Your nothing but a filthy murderer!_

he can't go back to his brothers now, not after what he just did. What if he did it to them? Sucked them dry until they were nothing but a shrivelled-up corpse forgotten on the floor. He couldn't.

he didn't know how long he stayed down there, staring at his hand in disgust and self-loathing, hoping this was all a bad dream but knowing it wasn't. eventually three armed guards entered the basement, dragging him out and throwing him in a cage, locking the bars and tucking the key away.

Even when they sneered at him and made fun of him, even when they tried to beat him with their weapons, forming wounds on his body that heal over in a matter of seconds, even when his healing power faded away and the wounds stayed…

He couldn't find it within himself to care.

* * *

Luffy pouted up at Dadan, "can I go now?" he said.

"no." was the instant reply.

Luffy's pout increased, only making his cuter, "why not? I need to get Sabo back. Something bad could have happened." He said.

The Bandit leader looked at the dragon, his scales had returned to skin, hiding all his reptilian traits behind a fleshy body. "because Ace isn't healed yet. And you haven't given me a clear plan of how your going to manage it." She said.

"yes I did, I'm going to beat up Sabo's father and bring Sabo back, see: planned. And I don't need Ace for this, all I'm doing is getting Sabo back, not fighting all the Marines at the same time. I'll be fine." Luffy said surly. "besides, Ace agrees with me."

Dadan rolled her eyes. "just because Ace told you 'go get Sabo back' doesn't mean I'll let you go out alone."

Luffy growled, "I can look after myself! I'm not doing anything dangerous, only getting Sabo back!"

Dadan was silent for a moment, "not what I meant, kid." She motioned to one of the Bandits behind her, Luffy recognized it as the doctor. "Dogra here will be going with you, make sure your back by midnight and have a _proper_ plan before charging headfirst into the nobles house."

Luffy blinked, he was not expecting that, "huh?"

The Bandit leader rolled her eyes, "I may not like you brats too much, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you attack a noble in broad daylight without some sort of backup." She turned to the Bandit going with him, "Dogra, make sure you stay in contact and update us at every change. Got it?"

"yes ma'am!" he gave a mock salute, before heading back into a separate room and grabbing a baby den-den mushi.

"huh?" Luffy asked again, still trying to wrap his head around what was happening. When it clicked, he yelled, "hey! I don't need a babysitter! I'm strong!"

Dadan, the intelligent, mature woman, leader of a bandit group that she is, crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at the 7-year-old boy. "well too bad! He's going with you!"

Luffy looked at Dogra, "don't slow me down." When Dogra nodded, Luffy burst into a bright smile and grabbed the bandit's hand, "come on! Let's go, let's go!"

The bandit didn't stand a chance, the two were quickly headed down the fastest route to High town, over the river, thought the forest, across the remains of Grey Terminal, thought the gates to low town and past the docks.

When they reached a busier area of the docks, Luffy had to slow down otherwise he would run into people and draw attention to himself. He isn't as clueless as most people think and is completely capable of thinking of reasonable half-baked plans on the fly, it's just a matter if he wants to or not.

So, if being quiet meant he will have a much easier time getting Sabo back, then he will be quiet.

"s-slow down." Dogra cried crocodile tears as the roller coaster ride down the mountain ended. They had made great time, only taking 10 minutes to get there, but now what?

Luffy started sniffing the area, trying to find a certain scent, he can't track something without a scent. the people who saw him smelling the air either ignored it, disregarding the young child in their minds, tried to hit him unsuccessfully, or scowl at him. most people choose the third and fourth option at the same time. Brushing them off, Luffy concentrated on finding his brother.

_That_ scent was a dirty old man, very stinky, and _that _one was of a lady with many different scents that aren't her own, and the one to his right was a super clean dog with too many products in his fur, and that one was… um, he wasn't sure. Probably something the super-rich people wore to smell be-

THERE!

there was Sabo! he found it!

It smelled like new paper and ink, and the soft touch of a buttercup, and maybe old clothes and four days without a bath. Just the way he was meant to be. Thought there was something off about the smell, it reminded him too much about blood, its tangy salty smell that kept blocking up his nose, of course, Sabo always smelt like that, he was a vampire after all, but now it's like it's intensified and stronger. It was weird.

Luffy locked on to the smell, instantly dragging Dogra with him to the place it came from, further up the docks. What met his eyes scared him.

There was a boat docked in the bay, a really big one that belonged to the marines, and there was a weak human that everyone bowed to, who was dressed in weird clothing and had a massive glass cube on his head, walking off of it. he looked odd but the way he held himself like he was more important than any other person in the surrounding area rubbed Luffy the wrong way. He started growling softly.

In the middle of plaza, there was a few cages with people or animals in them, there was a tiger lord in one, but it didn't look very healthy, the rest were mostly just pretty girls dressed in overly complicated attire that looked uncomfortable or strange beasts common in this part of the East Blue, like the three tailed monkey. But one of the cages was different, it was situated in front of the others by a few meters and is covered by a blue sheet with a noble crest on it. The crest looked familiar but Luffy couldn't immediately place it. The crest was similar to a flower with thorns but also a bird, it took a while but finally Luffy remembered it was the crest Sabo told him about. That was Sabo's Family crest for when he was a noble.

Luffy sniffed the air to find the scent, it came from in front of him, around the cages, but he couldn't pinpoint where. If he was a betting man, he would have put his money in the cage with the sheet over it, but sadly, he was not a betting man. Instead, Luffy looked around the plaza feverishly in the hopes of seeing his big brother somewhere.

"Sabo…" he whispered, "where are you…"

As soon as Dogra looked up and noticed the Celestial Dragon walking down the gangplank and everyone else going down into a low bow, he grabbed Luffy and pulled him down on the ground.

"Dogra! What are you doing?" he asked when his face hit the ground hard, but he was soon looking around for his brother in less than a second.

"it's a Celestial Dragon." He whispered in fear, "if we do anything to him the entire World Government will be gunning for us!"

"I don't care about your stupid human government, if it takes Sabo away from me, I'm getting him back!" he declared quietly, he wanted to find his brother first before starting a fight. Surprisingly, no one around them heard his declaration of war, leaving Dogra to spend the next several seconds looking for anyone suspicious. Finding none, he turned back to luffy, who was getting ready to stand back up again.

"no, luffy! Stay down!" Dogra hissed, pulling the boy back to the ground, "they will kill you if you disrespect them! stay down so no one spots you. find Sabo first before starting a fight you can't win. Got it?"

Slowly Luffy nodded with a pout. If they didn't have Sabo, then he would be starting a fight that could get in the way of his rescue, but if they did have Sabo, he would kill them without remorse for taking his brother against his will.

"only until I find Sabo. I make no promises after that." He said with a serious expression.

"that's fine, just… if you do get in a fight, do not kill the Celestial Dragon." Dogra expressed.

"who's that." Luffy stated.

Dogra discreetly pointed to the man, who was now walking down the port and into the plaza, with the giant cube over his head and the overly compensation white clothes and decorations, "Him, the rich looking guy."

"I will try, but if he hurts Sabo, I'm going to punch him."

"please don't."

The two watch in silence as the Celestial Dragon walked into the plaza, sneering at the lowly peasants bowing to him as they should. Some of the more important nobles followed behind him with their heads down, they knew their place. When the Celestial Dragon stopped to inspect the slaves in the cages, one of the nobles differed from the others and walked behind him, chatting to the more powerful noble and explaining the _gifts_ they had for his esteemed excellence. The people in the cages cried as the Celestial dragon passes, gazing at them like a prized possession, while the animals growled.

"-I believe his esteemed grace Saint Jalmack will like this next one." The East blue noble said to the World Noble while standing in front of the covered cage. "this is a rare creature, not seen very often anywhere. In fact, it might be one of the last of its kind." He had an evil smirk on his face as he said those words, as if he was getting rid of a hinderance. Saint Jalmack raised an eyebrow and gestured for the sheet to be removed, the East blue noble nodded quickly and grabbed the corners of the sheet pulled it off in one clean motion. Revealing a small boy.

The boy instantly yelled out in pain when the sheet was removed, seeming to hide from the very sun itself, pulling his clothes tighter around himself and his hat further over his head.

Luffy tensed up. He knew that face anywhere, no matter how terrified and afraid it was. "Sabo…" he whispered under his breath, arms clutching at the ground, forming dents in the pristine surface with his claws.

Sabo was wearing different clothes then he last saw him, his previous cared for blue jacket and pants had been taken away and replaced with a long jacket cloak thing with a high neck, long sleeved blue shirt, black ankle-length pants, shiny shoes and his top hat. At least they let him keep the top hat. Sabo loved that hat mare then anything, after his brothers of course, and would never give it up for the world.

"are you mocking me, Mr. Outlook, because this looks like a lowly boy to me." Saint Jalmack said in disgust.

Mr. Outlook shook his head negatively, "of course not, Saint Jalmack, I would never dream of doing something like that. This here is a _Vampire_, one of the most dangerous creatures in the world, and it is a young one at that." The crowd gasped at the mention of a Vampire and whispers broke out until Saint Jalmack raised his gun and shot the closest person. The bullet hit one of the people who were talking, killing him instantly. Lucky shot, the guy didn't even aim properly… not that anyone would say anything about it, he was a Celestial dragon for god's sake.

"be quiet, peasant scum." The world noble hissed, eyeing the prize in front of him. the crowd instantly hushed, not even the crickets made a noise. he looked up at Mr. Outlook, "I'm interested in this one, continue." He ordered.

"but of course." The lower class noble said with a bow, "As you can see, the Vampire is harmed by the sunlight, a side effect of eating Human blood. A fun trait to play with, I'm sure. It is blessed with superhuman strength and speed, so it will be perfect for carrying heavy items other slaves fail at. And finally, it will starve without eating human blood at least once a month, now that it has eaten some. it will have to beg for if it wants even the smallest bit to survive." Mr. Outlook gestured to Sabo, who had moved to the shadiest area in the cage, sadly it was the part of the cage that was closer to the Nobles, but there was nothing he could do about that. The sun _burnt_.

Sabo covered his head with his arms, curling his feet in on each other so they burnt less, and hunched into a ball, trying his best to ignore the continuous pain. It wasn't as bad as when his Vampire teeth came through, but it wasn't very pleasant either. Tears threatened to leak out of his eyes, but he held them back. He didn't want to show weakness to this scum, especially not the World Noble bastard.

Only one thought ran through Sabo head, _where are you, Ace, Luffy?_

On the side of the plaza, away from prying eyes, Luffy slowly climbed to his hands and knees, eyes changing as he did. His growl got slightly louder, but still silent enough for the people around him to miss, other than Dogra, who has been paying close attention to the smaller boy since the reveal of Sabo.

"_luffy_, wait!" he hissed, "don't fight now, not in front of all these people."

"don't care, they put Sabo in a cage, Sabo doesn't like cages. I'm going to get him out of there." He said simply, crawling forward, well, until Dogra grabbed his hand.

"if you do this now, everyone will know you're a dragon, life will become harder for all three of you. your life will be lived on the run and you wont ever be able to stop. Do you understand, Luffy?" Dogra tried reasoning with him.

Sadly, most of that blew over Luffy's head, "we'll be fine, we will find a way. We always do."

Dogra grit his teeth, "wait until most of these people are gone, then sneak Sabo out. As soon as he's free, you'll have to run for it. I'll call Dadan and get her to bring Ace down the mountain, when he's here, then you can go picking a fight with the world." At least that got through to the kid.

"we'll have to leave?" he asked, finally moving his eyes to stare at Dogra.

"yes."

Luffy kept eye contact with the bandit a few moments more before returning his gaze to his imprisoned brother. "… okay, I'll wait." He said at length, causing Dogra to sigh in relief, he really didn't think that would work. "but call Dadan now and get Ace here. I wanna save Sabo."

Dogra didn't argue and quickly got his den-den mushi out. Dialing the bandit's camp's number, the other side answered in three rings.

"_hello, Dadan Bandits, how can I help you?"_ the person on the other side said politely.

"…you need to stop answering like that, Gerald, it's ruining our reputation." Dogra stated.

"_Dogra?"_ the voiced faded out a bit, like he was yelling behind him, "_hey, Dadan, Dogra's on the mushi, what do I do?"_

"_give it to me, you twerp!"_ Dadan's voice yelled in the distance. There was a clicking sound, as if the receiver had just been passed over, before Dadan said, _"what do you want, Dogra. Luffy better be okay, I have a brat here who won't shut up about him and it's driving me insane."_

"don't worry, boss, the brat's fine. But the other one, um, not so much." Dogra said into the den-den.

"_what do you mean? is Sabo okay?" _Dadan asked, the den-den's eyes narrowing to stare straight at him.

"well, not really." Dogra said. "his father is giving him away to the visiting Celestial Dragon as a slave. Luffy wants to go break him out right now but I've somehow managed to convince him no too until there isn't a thousand people watching him. also, can someone bring Ace down here because after this is all over, the three boys will have to leave this island if they want even the tiniest chance at surviving." Dogra informed bluntly.

There was silence on the Bandit Leader's side of the call for a few moments before she started taking charge, _"got it, thanks for telling us Dogra. Steve and Pete, go over to the boy's tree house and collect everything of value, Freddy, you go get their treasure stash-"_

"_you know about that!?"_ Ace's voice called out in surprise.

Dadan ignored him, "_Jeromy, get Ace down to the other brats and get some rope. I'm ganna go on a whim and assume their escape plan is riding away on the dragons back, right?"_

"_how do you know about that too!?"_ Ace yelled even louder than before. They hadn't told Dadan before any of this happened and he hadn't been particularly conscious when they found Dadan in the fire… well, he was, but wasn't paying much attention to if Luffy had his scales out or not, meaning he didn't know that Dadan knew that Luffy was a dragon. Oh well.

Same as before, Dadan ignored him and waited for Dogra to continue.

"actually, I don't think Luffy got that far and is only focused on getting Sabo out of thecage... and he's gone…"

"_what do you mean he's gone!"_ Ace yelled, he sounded furious.

Dogra scratched the back of his neck in confusion, looking around to find one brat in a sea of people. "well, the Celestial dragon just left to go visit the king or something like that and Luffy just disappeared to save Sabo… meet you at the cliff overseeing the ocean?" he offered.

There was silence on the other side of the line.

Then there was yelling.

So much yelling that the Den-Den Mushi couldn't handle it. Ace was yelling after his brother, Dadan was yelling at his incompetence at looking after one brat, the majority of the bandits were yelling after the boy too, he had gotten a lot of then attached to him in the boy's weekly visits, and someone was cheering Luffy on.

The Den-Den Mushi got so much of a headache that it hung itself up, completely short circuiting. Poor thing, he would have to feed it extra snacks after this.

* * *

Luffy casually walked up to the cage, senses primed for the first sign of danger, if there was anything about sneak attacks he learnt from his brothers, was that to make sure they don't see anything coming until the last moment. Sabo's cage was guarded by two posh looking people with super shiny armor, so he needed to get as close as possible without being suspicious. He slowly dodged between the crowd that had formed. when the fancy dude left, the sheet was placed back over Sabo's cage so he couldn't see him, but that also made it easier to get him out, then people stopped bowing on the ground and they all started crowding around the covered cage in the hopes of seeing a real live Vampire.

Of course, the guards wouldn't let them get close, but that doesn't matter to him, Sabo is his brother and he will get him out of there. No. matter. What.

He snuck to the back of the cage where there were slightly less people before sprinting out of the crowd in a fast motion and hiding behind the sheet covering the cage. He was pressed against the bars and the sheet covering it, but that didn't matter, because he could see Sabo.

The blond was huddled in the middle of the cage, hiding in the largest shadow cast by the arguably very thin sheet. Now that he was closer, Luffy could see silent tears streaming down Sabo's face, but it didn't seem out of hopelessness, not at all, Sabo was too strong for that, it was more out of self-loathing, something he only expected to see on Ace's face. Certainly not Sabo's. he was the smart brother, he knows he was loved.

Right?

"Sabo!" he whispered sternly, gaining the blonds attention.

"luffy?" he asked, turning slightly to stare at his brother, when he noticed that it was, in fact, him, Sabo jumped up and almost crashed into the bars between the two brothers, "you came!" he yelled out in joy.

"I would never leave you behind, you're my precious brother!" declared Luffy, trying to hug Sabo though the bars.

Then reality hit Sabo, "wait a minute, what are you doing here?! The celestial dragon will have you killed! Quick, run away!" he yelled quietly so as not to alert the guards dealing with the crowd.

"psh, those fake dragons can't kill me, I'm a real one!" he declared, momentarily forgetting to whisper. "oops."

Sabo looked around, trying to spot his other brother, "luffy, where's Ace?" he asked worriedly.

"he's at the bandits hut." Luffy quickly continued after seeing Sabo's confused, shocked but mostly hurt face, "don't worry though, he wanted to come too, but we got caught in the fire three days ago and Ace got some burns from it. Don't worry, the bandits say they won't scar too bad, but they said he couldn't come rescue you. He tried though. But he got tied up, so I came with Dogra." Luffy flashed him a reassuring smile, causing Sabo to smile slightly back.

"okay, so your both fine and you got stuck in a fire… how are you not burnt?"

"I'm a fire dragon. Fire doesn't hurt me!" Luffy said cheerfully, turning his arm into scales for a few seconds before changing it back into flesh.

"that's cool…" Sabo knocked on the bar of the cage, "do you have the key to this thing?" he asked hopefully.

"nope!"

Sabo sighed, "then how am I going to get out of here?" he asked quietly, hope slowly dwindling. But his brother was here so that must account to something. right?

"I don't know. I was hoping you had an idea." Luffy's smile slowly faded away into a thoughtful expression, his head started heading up by the amount of brain cells he was frying with his thoughts.

Then it clicked for him, whatever that was.

"I got it!" Luffy cheered, slamming his fist into his palm. Without answering Sabo's unspoken question, Luffy quickly turned his hand into a claw and pointed one finger out. He made two strong and swift strike to the steel bars, cutting them from the top and the bottom. "don't know why I didn't do this with the chains in the fire, but this is Awsome!"

As soon as Sabo figured out the plan, he moved out of the way slightly, but got close enough that he could catch the bars before they fell and made a large noise on the steel floor of the cage. He put them in the middle of the cage quietly before turning around and attacking Luffy into one of the biggest hugs he has ever given to anyone.

"thank you." he whispered into the younger boy's shoulder. "and what chains?"

Luffy patted his head with a smile, "Sabo doesn't have to thank me, Sabo is free and will always be free!" he didn't answer the question about the fire that night.

Luffy lifted up the edge of the sheet, a ray of light hit the blonde's uncovered ankle. He hissed in pain, moving away from the light. The younger boy put the sheet down and rushed to his brother's side.

"Sabo! are you okay!" he cried.

Sabo slowly nodded, "yeah, I'm allergic to sunlight now. Can I have your shirt?" the clothing was removed in record time and passed over to the surprised blond before he could finish the sentence. Sabo quickly tore the shirt apart and wrapped it around as many places of skin as he could find, leaving only his left eye bare so he could see. "I can deal with a little burn for a bit, lets just find some shade soon, okay?" Sabo tried to put a bit of humor into his words, but it all blew over his brother's head… or maybe it didn't sound very funny with the amount of worry and stress in his voice…

"Hey, you boys, you ready yet?" Dogra's voice whispered as he climbed under the sheet, making the boys jump before they recognized who it was.

"Yeah… hey, Dogra, can I wear your hat thing?" Sabo asked, eyeing the big piece of cloth.

Dogra eyed the boy, "as long as you don't break it, I guess so. And it's called a toga!"

Luffy laughed quietly as the Bandit removed his hat, revealing long brown hair that fell limply to his waist. Dogra tied it up with a loose piece of string he had. Sabo quickly wrapped the fabric over all the places the ripped shirt couldn't cover, again, only leaving his left eye free so he could see.

Luffy hugged Sabo once more and moved to grab the sheet again. The dragon stuck his head out of the sheet, trying to find the closest spot of shade to drag his brother too. He found an ally way about twenty meters from them, they were in the middle of a plaza after all. Sabo pulled his hat closer over his head, trying to cover up his left eye as much as he can, but knowing it will be futile for the most part.

When Luffy ducked back into the cage, holding Sabo's hand like his life depended on it, he asked needlessly, "You ready?" Sabo only nodded in reply.

Without any more words, the boys and Bandit sprinted out of the cage, ducking and weaving between the people still trying to get a glimpse at the Vampire, trying to get to the allyway before Sabo's skin burn to a crisp. The blond tried to hold in his pained sounds as he followed behind his brother, but it was pretty hard to do that when your body felt like it was burning up from the insides. At least the cloth provided some cover.

Except over his eye.

Now _that_ hurt like hell. Instead of the slow burn everywhere else, his left eye felt like it was on fire. He hissed as he blinked, causing a massive leap in the pain there. Closing his eye helped, but then he couldn't see, so he settled for blinking a lot while trying to hide it under his hat. It only worked occasionally.

"Hey you! The Brat with the vampire! Stop!" a guard yelled. The two boys sped up.

The bandit took Luffy's hand, guiding him out of the plaza, they didn't stop at the alleyway or they would be caught.

"Luffy, Sabo, go to the beach below the cliff. Ace will meet you there, make sure you get the hell off this island as fast as you can. I'll cause a distraction." Dogra said to the boys as they ducked into another path, dodging the guards and townspeople trying to catch them.

The boys nodded, they both knew where to go. They knew Dogra wouldn't be caught, and even if he was, it was only a matter of time before he got out of there. He is a master at infiltration and a practiced escape artist. As well as being a doctor…

Maybe he was the only competent Bandit in Dadan's tribe… huh.

"Stop, brats!" A town guard yelled, a bit too close for comfort.

"Go!" Dogra pushed the boys to faster speeds, slowing himself down and running in a different direction. When he got a good distance between them, he found the guards and shouted, "They went this way officers! The Vampire is hiding in a house over there! I'm scared, please save me from the monster!"

His voice died down in the distance and so did most of the guards chasing them. The boys didn't stop, not even glancing back until they got to the gates.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Luffy asked hesitantly.

"He will be." Sabo said before pulling Luffy slightly into grey terminal. His eye really hurt and he felt like he was cooking, all he wanted was a large bit of shade to hide in until night time, it didn't hurt then. "lets go before they find us."

Luffy nodded, taking the lead for his covered brother. The trip down to the beach was uneventful except for the Tiger Lord trying to eat them, Luffy transformed into a dragon and ate him instead. They didn't bother to cook the animal as in his dragon form as it doesn't bother Luffy too much, and they were on a time limit to get out of there. He would need his energy to carry his brothers across the ocean and too an island.

As that was their _horrible_ escapes plan.

But it would work, and that's all that matters to the boys.

"Sabo!" Ace yelled as he caught sight of the brothers, he was hanging from a rope tied to a high tree branch. Three bandits where nearby, Dadan and two others they didn't recognize. "you're okay! Quick, help me get down from here." He asked, swing from side to side to loosen the rope. It didn't help.

"Why are you even up there to begin with?" the blond asked.

Dadan answered, "He kept trying to run after you two to go and protect you or something. So, we tied him up so he wouldn't worsen his wounds." She looked at the brats approaching, "where's Dogra?"

"he distracted the guards so we could get away. How bad are Ace's wounds?" Sabo answered as he hid in the shade of the tree ace was tied too. Luffy didn't join the conversation, just stripped out of his clothes and transformed into a dragon, he had changed back after eating the tiger.

"good call... I would've done the same if I was in his position. Ace's wounds aren't too bad, he would be up and running in a week or two if he was a normal kid, but seeing as he's not, I would say a few days." Dadan said, taking ace down from the tree and untying the ropes.

"hey! I'm fine, Sabo. no need to worry about me." Ace said, "now, less about me, what's wrong with you?" Ace said, crouching in front of his blond brother while taking in the extra pieces of clothes he was wearing, seeming to huddle in on himself.

"im fine." Sabo said, covering his left eye with his hand, the only piece of flesh that was visible before. He curled his toes in on themselves, seeming to hide away from the small rays of sunlight.

"no, you're not, Sabo. now tell us what's wrong." He demanded sternly, making sure not to raise his voice. Luffy came up in his dragon form and nudged Sabo in the shoulder, giving his own sort of support.

When Sabo didn't seem to answer, ace opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the Vampire, "…my… _father…_if I can even call him that, forced me to… eat, someone. I-I couldn't stop, once I started drinking I-I couldn't s-sto–" he was cut off by his own sniffles, "t-then I felt_ so_, so _hungry_, like I could eat e-everything. A-all my wounds healed up like they n-never happened a-and i-I felt s-stronger. B-but _I killed someone_." He whispered in horror.

Dadan gasped in shock, no matter what she said when she met the boys, she had tried her very best to keep them away from that, save them from themselves and from the horror of taking a life. Sure, they beat up crooks and assholes all the time, and maybe some of them die afterwards, but that was in battle, they had a chance. This was in cold blood, and it was clear Sabo regretted it.

"I-I didn't even know his _name_." Sabo hissed, angry at himself. There was silence on the beach, no one daring to say anything to the traumatized kid.

"I'm a _murderer_." It was said with so much conviction that no one could say anything about it. The innocent little kid they knew from before was gone, now all that was left was a sick murderer, that's what they would think of him. they would be just like _him_ and sell him off to the first buyer for a profit. Hell, they may even give him back to the Celestial Dr-

"**so?"**

Sabo flinched at the word, but he did look up and stare at the dragon in confusion. He had just stated that he killed someone, why would he not be scared. Oh right, he was a dragon. Maybe he would just eat him and get it over with.

"**I've eaten humans before. Its not that big of a deal." **Luffy continued earning more than a few skeptically and fearful – from the bandits – gazes. The dragon ignored them,** "Sabo is Sabo. he is our brother and there is nothing that could change that. Besides, if you eat Humans, then me and ace-"**

"ace and I." Sabo corrected automatically, hardly paying attention to the words he said.

"**-have nothing to fear."** Luffy ignored him in favor of finishing his sentence, **"we're not human, after all."**

Ace nodded, he felt much the same way but didn't really have a way to show it other than punching his brother in the head, and they both knew that would get them nowhere. "you said your sperm donor forced you, right?" Sabo nodded, "then it wasn't your fault. It was his, and when we get stronger, I promise we'll come back here and kill the bastard for you. then we can all be murderers together… if it makes you feel better." He said with a smirk that made the bandits shiver in fear, slowly backing away from the terrifying creatures they raised.

Seriously, why couldn't they have normal brats?

Luffy nudged Sabo with his snout again, trying to get his to not feel sorry about himself, how this work is anyone's guess, but somehow it always does. Unknowingly, his action also loosens the clothe wrapped around Sabo hand and when he reached out to scratch Luffy's snout, gaining comfort in the dark red scales, he jerked his hand back in pain, hissing slightly as steam rose from his hand.

Ace was immediately worried, "what happened, are you okay?" he said, then noticed the burn on his hand, and the larger one on the left side of his face, now that it wasn't being covered, "shit!" he looked around for anything to cover his brother with. Luffy was on the verge of crying when he saw that he unintentionally hurt his brother, now he was in pain and it was all his fault.

"**Sabo…"** he didn't know what to say, an apology wouldn't cut it.

"here, let me handle this." Dadan said, holding a jar of cream, some bandages and a blanket. her underling found the blanket in their tree house. It used to belong to the bandits, but they gave it to the kids ages ago. Ace quickly nodded and the bandit leader immediately started applying the cream to their injured brother's face and other burns. "the burns on your arms aren't too serious and probably wont scar, but they're going to sting for a few days at least. Make sure you apply the cream every six hours, got it?" Sabo nodded, "good. Now the one on your face is definitely going to scar, okay? Its really bad and is blistering like crazy. I'm going to cover it up in a lot of bandages, but your probably going to need your brothers help to put the burn cream on." After putting the bandages on and handing him a bag with a lot of spares, she threw the blanket on top of him, covering Sabo from the sunlight.

Sabo sighed in relief as soon as he was hidden, "thanks, didn't relies how much the sun hurt before today." he tried to crack a smile, not that anyone would see it, but it was broken by his current mood. It still made Ace smirk though, seeing his brother trying to move on. sabo took off dogra's toga and gave it to Dadan to return to him. it didn't look too damaged so it should be fine, hopefully he wasn't angry about the slight tear from the encounter with the tiger lord.

"either way, you boys will have to get moving soon, guards will be hunting you down and it won't be long before they find this place." Dadan said, "any extra second you can gain in this mad dash, take it. You're going to need it." She said, picking up the bundle of blankets that is Sabo and putting in on the dragons back. Sabo yelped in surprise, he couldn't see what was going on so wasn't prepared for when Dadan picked him up. Luffy bent down to make it easier for her to put Sabo on him. Ace easily climbed up the dragons back, sitting behind Sabo in case he fell off.

Not that it was necessary, they could both swim surprisingly well, but it would never stop Ace from fretting over his brothers, especially now that one has a very deadly weakness.

"**bye bye Dadan!"** Luffy yelled, slinking into the warm water of east blue, being careful not to let his older brothers fall off.

"see you around, brats!" came the response. "I wanna see some great pirates out of you guys! No matter what that grandfather of yours says!"

"we will! But not until we're older." Ace added.

"yeah! We got to get stronger, so nothing like this ever happens ever again!" Sabo yelled from beneath the blanket. Ace was pretty sure he was facing the wrong direction, but at least it looked funny. Luffy started swimming away from the island, he didn't really know where he was going, but he was sure it would all work out in the end.

"you look after each other, you hear!" Dadan demanded, wading out to her knees.

All three boys smirked before grinning like idiots, "yes mom!" they yelled cheerfully, breaking down into giggles. It wasn't a complete lie, after all, Dadan was the one to raise them, or at least ace, but the other two weren't far behind, so it counts. They all saw her like a parent they never had, except luffy, as he had a mother. But she was gone now, and Dadan did care about them.

"you brats!" She yelled angrily, trying to hide her smile and tears of joy. The other bandits said nothing as they waved silently to the boys, they would pass on the message onto everyone else.

The boys got away safely.

And that's all that matters to them.

* * *

On a secluded island in the dead center of the east blue, was a renown pirate. He is feared in places as one of the yonko, and in others celebrated as their greatest hero. But everyone knows of him, after all, who could possible ignore him?

No one. As far as he cared.

To his enemies, he is a dangerous force to be reckoned with, an unstoppable power one would hope never to get on the bad side of. But to his friends, he is a drunk. An idiot. And a stupid captain.

And no one would ever change that.

"Beeeeeennnnnn, my head hurts." The captain of the Red-Haired pirates complained.

"then don't drink so much." Ben replied, not looking up from his newspaper.

"but its yummmyyyy." He retorted, rolling over onto his stomach to look with beady eyes at his first mate. "whatcha reading?" He asked, staring at the letters on the paper that wouldn't stop spinning and dancing.

"the newspaper."

"whats on the newspaper?" he tried.

"words."

Shanks sighed, "and what do the words say."

"sentences."

The captain of the red-haired pirates threw a bottle at his first mate, who dodged it like an expert without looking up.

"someone stole from a World Noble visiting the East Blue." A new voice said, making both me look up at their guest. Standing at the edge of the clearing was a lean man with a black hat and jacket with a deep purple on the insides. His pants where grey, being held up by a belt, his jacket had purple embroidery sleeves with a light floral pattern, not that most would be able to see it, and his knee-high steel-capped boots had leather bands to tighten them. he wasn't wearing a shirt under his jacket so his muscular chest and well-defined abs where open for the world to see. Around his neck was a small cross, hidden inside was a smaller, but sharp and deadly blade, and on his back was a massive sword with a cross guard wider than his shoulders.

This man was Dracule Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world, one of Shanks best friends and greatest rivals. Also known by very few, one of the oldest Vampires in the world – he's a little older the 200 now.

"yo hawky! How are you!" Shanks cheered as some of the other men awake moved away from the powerhouse in fear. "I haven't seen you in ages."

"don't call me that and you saw me six weeks ago, you idiot." Mihawk responded, approaching the captain and first mate without any fear or hesitation.

"aww, you counted. Come, have a seat, and tell me about this master thief." Shanks said, looking like a schoolgirl learning the newest piece of blackmail gossip.

"you look like an idiot." The swordsman said as he took a seat on the log provided.

"who cares." Shanks retorted.

Ben glared at him, "pretty much everyone else in the entire world thinks you some scary powerful monster, but what they should be afraid of is all the pointless shenanigans you get up to when your drunk and have blackmail material." He pointed out to no one in particular.

Shanks pouted at Ben, "as they should be, blackmail is serious stuff, my captain taught me that much at least. it's how he convinced half his crew to join him."

"… there are very little people on this planet who could say that sort of stuff about the Pirate King and get away with it." Ben commented before tuning out the rest of the conversation so he could read the newspaper in peace.

"so, what got stolen?" Shanks asked, his face becoming more serious than it was before but still retaining that cheeky grin and misbehaving attitude.

"a vampire slaves." Was the simple reply as one of Shanks' crewmates handed him a bottle of red wine, the good stuff. Shanks winced, he knew how Mihawk thought about things like this. sure, he doesn't like slavery in general, but he hates the mythical creatures being hunted just because they were different. At least Vampires had a better fighting chance then the fishmen and mermaids, they were still largely unknown to most of the population.

"how old are they?" Shanks asked, this was a good thing to know as Vampire traits would never reveal themselves before the age of 10. Mihawk knows why, but he refused to tell shanks anymore about his kind then the absolutely necessary. Because of this, if a Vampire got caught and he knew about it, he would help them if they were younger as they probably don't even know how to control themselves properly, whereas he will leave the older Vampires he met alone. If they got caught, it was their fault, he only helps those who don't know how to help themselves.

And besides, he promised someone he would protect the younger generation of his kind 200 years ago. He has no intention of breaking that promise now.

"around 10 or 11 years old. young enough to have only just awaken his bloodline. He's harmed by the sunlight apparently, so he has eaten from a human. The kid was saved by a younger boy, the townspeople had claimed they were brothers alongside a third one. the third one was unaccounted for in the report but according to a group of Bandits on the mountainside, they had left the island and will never be seen again." Mihawk told one of his closest and oldest friends. Shanks could be trusted with this sort of information, others would use it for their own advantages but not shanks, he doesn't care about any of it. And that's why Mihawk is friends with him. even if he is an idiot half the time, he is a dependable one.

"you going after them?" shanks asked.

Mihawk didn't respond instantly, proffering to take a sip of his wine. "yeah, but I want to find an Alteff stone first."

"they're the stones that make you immune to the sunlight, right?"

Mihawk nodded, "only problem is that they're very rare. I've only come across two in my life, the one I'm wearing and the one I gave to a friend. Getting my hands on another one will be difficult and annoying since to everyone else they are useless dull rocks… but maybe the dragons have one…"

Shanks raised an eyebrow, "why would the dragons have them? don't they collect shiny gold things?" he asked perplexed. He has only met one dragon in his life, but she was friendly enough to leave a good impression. Heck, the captain even tried asking her to join her crew. She didn't agree though, said something about looking after an egg.

"they do." Mihawk answered, "but they also have a knack for collecting precious and rare stones, like the Alteff stones, and would be the only ones to possible own one. only problem is, I don't know any dragons that don't want to kill me, I stole the other two stones off their hordes, and they are _very_ protective of their belongings."

Shanks scoffed, "that's an understatement, I've only met one dragon in my life, and she was cool, but the moment my captain touched her gold, she was a vicious nasty lizard. She was back to normal when he gave it back though, so no harm done."

Mihawk smirked minutely, his version of a laugh, not that he would ever admit it.

"and let me guess, you stopped here to ask if I know where any Dragon hordes are so you could go and rob them." shanks said with a smirk.

"I wouldn't say _rob_, exactly… more like permanently borrowing." He reaffirmed.

"… that's robbing, Mihawk."

"don't care." Mihawk stood up, downing the last of his drink, "I'll be on my ship, we'll finish this conversation later."

"night!~" the red haired pirate sung.

* * *

Omake

Saint Jalmack walked back down the street to his new pets, or slaves, whatever he wanted to call them. the king was boring, so he left, but the strawberry tarts they had were amazing, he took the chef who made them with him, he was now a new slave of his. He should be proud to serve him for the rest of his life.

He didn't look very happy with the chain around his neck though… oh well, not his problem.

The lesser people bowed as soon as they saw him, getting as low on the ground as they possible can, as they should be.

He reached the cages that housed his new possession, stopping in from of his favorite, the covered one. His own Vampire slave, oh how much fun he is going to have with this.

He clicked his fingers and one of the guards nervously took of the sheet, revealing an empty cage with broken bars hidden inside.

Saint Jalmack scowled. "how dare he escape! He should be happy to serve as my slave! Guards, where is my Vampire!?" he yelled in anger.

The captain slowly stepped forward, head bowed, "Saint Jalmack sir, the Vampire escaped with the help of another brat." He said hesitantly.

"and you let my property get away!?" he shouted, "shoot yourself for your incompetence." He discarded. The captain raised his shaking hand holding a pistol up to his head. He closed his eyes, mumbling a sorry to his wife and child before shooting himself. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Everyone around tried there very best not to make a sound, but they let the tears of fear run down there cheeks, hoping not to be next.

"you." he pointed to one of the lesser guards behind the captain, he flinched, "put a wanted poster out for my Vampire. I want him back. Oh, and for the brat who saved him and anyone else involved."

"y-yes sir." The lower guard stuttered in fear.

He would get his prize back, but for now, maybe a yummy strawberry tart would be nice.

* * *

**YES! I MADE DRACULE MIHAWK A VAMPIRE! Don't judge me… I think it's a great idea. **

**Anyway, as your probably wondering, I said this story was about ASL and the whitebeard pirate, well, i'm not there yet. First, I have to give Luffy a hat, and Sabo a fancy magic stone thing (also ignore the name I gave it, it was the first thing that came to my head that sounded somewhat cool… 'alteff'… damn, now I want to change it.) I also gotta touch on some of Ace's problems… that I haven't completely come up with yet… other then his self loathing issues...but i'm getting there! Don't patronize me.**

**Yeah, for anyone who was wondering, ASL will meet the whitebeard pirates when Ace fights Jimbei, when they set sail together. But until them, its just them and their awesomeness!**

**See you guys next chapter.**


	5. Red Heads

By nighttime, all three boys where happy. Sabo had climbed out of his blanket cover and was currently sitting with Ace playing cards on Luffy's back as he swam in a direction. As soon as the sun set, Sabo had altered their course so they would reach land sooner rather than later. Luffy was actually really good at navigation when it involves his instincts, he just goes where it feels right, and was already headed towards the closest island, but he was veering to the right a little bit.

Sabo fixed that with his advanced knowledge of all things, that he gained from books.

"**ne, Sabo, can you tell us a story?"** Luffy asked, he was getting tired and they weren't going to reach the island until tomorrow morning, but he would stay awake, otherwise they would all sink into the ocean. He could hold his breath for a good 4 hours, but his brothers can't do that. Ace has larger lungs then a normal human as his body needs to be lighter so he can fly in the future and can hold his breath for a few minute more than Sabo, who has normal sized lungs.

"sure Luffy." Sabo said as he placed a winning hand down in from of Ace, who sputtered incoherent words at the royal flush, "looks like you owe me a bag of meat." He said smugly.

Seeing no way out of this, Ace pointed at him and shouted, "you cheated!"

"no, I didn't!" Sabo yelled back affronted. "I'm just better at the game then you." he smirked.

"cheater." Ace grumbled as he turned away to sulk in his defeat. "I can always beat Luffy."

"that's because he sucks at the game… a lot." Sabo commented, standing up to go and sit closer to Luffy's head. "so, a story huh?" he asked the dragon.

"**mhm!"** Luffy nodded.

"let me guess, one about adventure, with some action, fighting and beating up bad guys?" a nod, "and maybe a giant dragon or two?" another nod "with friends and family?" third nod, "and treasure? Lots and lots of treasure?" Luffy nodded a fourth time.

"well then, I think I have the perfect story for you." and without further ado, he got straight into it. "up on the mountain woods, hidden away from the rest of the world, lived three boys. And not just any boys, they were brothers."

"**hey, they're like us!" **Luffy commented happily.

"yep. Now these boys where different from the rest of the world and-"

Despite turning away with his lose, Ace was listening to the tale, Sabo was very good at telling them. the story went on to explain an amazing adventure with the three boys, they met some mountain bandits and this huge red dragon, they stayed over for lunch, eating a giant tiger. But eventually, the rest of the world found them and sentenced the three boys to death. None of them wanted this so they all ran away, sailing out into the great unknown in a small boat. their pirate flag waving in the wind.

By the time the story ended, it was almost dawn. Sabo had started wrapping himself back up in the blanket but stayed out as long as he could. His burns had become more prominent and started to itch like crazy, but he could deal with it. The burn over his eye stung the most and was painfully obvious that it would scar, but it was fine. It was a reminder to him not to go out into the sunlight unless absolutely necessary, and he would wear it with pride. Because he got it _in_ his freedom. Though not necessarily because he _had_ freedom.

And because it was going to look epic. And possible _really _badass.

They could see the island on the horizon, a few hours away, it had a lush forest and a mountain, but that's all they could tell from so far away, and that was only because of Ace's amazingly good eyesight.

"**what happened to the boys?"** Luffy asked, the story ended with them starting an adventure, but now what? Did they get trapped in a storm? Did they escape the world? Were the evil slavers still after them?

"no one knows." Sabo said cryptically, "but I for one am going to find out." He said with a grin.

Ace had caught on to his story line after the first few sentences, he was telling the story of their life with a few altered themes. Heck, even their names were similar, 'Sans, Lucky and Ash.' Not the most original of names, but they will do. After all, Luffy would never catch on.

The three boys lulled into a calm silence as the sun came up, Sabo creeping further into his blanket cover. The sun _hurt_.

"what do you thinks on the island?" Ace voiced.

"who knows. Food, I hope." Was Sabo's answer.

"**maybe we'll meet some pirates and steal all their treasure!"** Luffy joked.

"haha, yeah right, you would never manage to get close." Ace taunted.

"**yeah I would!"** Luffy retorted.

Ace scoffed, "no you won't, you can't sneak to save your life." He crossed his arms and looked away smugly.

"**that's not true! I did it to save Sabo's." **Luffy huffed, proud with his achievement that no one else believed.

"whatever you say, little brother, whatever you say." Ace patted Luffy's scaled back with his hand in humor, smiling a little to himself. Luffy just huffed and turned away, not wanting Ace to stop, his back hurt a little and he could do with a massage, they always seem to help, either that, or rolling around in the gold at his house. Ace and Sabo are the best at caring for him, the make sure he eats all he needs, and that he's happy and not in any sort of pain due to staying in his human form for too long. Once, they were going to rob a bunch of people all afternoon, but when Luffy got a little itchy, both boys instantly abandoned they pray to take Luffy back to the forest so he could change forms. Turns out, it was just a mosquito bite.

"the island is too small and doesn't have a name, but it should have a large forest and a mountain to explore. We won't be able to stay long, but it will be a good resting spot before we get to wherever we're going." Sabo voice said from under the blanket. He had a map, a book and a lantern so he could see, luckily it was only sun light that hurt him, not artificial light. he was reading up on the dragon biology books he found a month ago in the library as he didn't get to finish them, after that, he'll be moving onto birds and human autonomy because he couldn't find any about Fae or Vampires. They both just disappeared into folk lore.

"speaking of which, where are we going afterwards? We're too young to become pirates yet, so that will have to wait." Ace said, moving so he could massage Luffy just past the base of his neck.

"where do you guys want to go? I was thinking a different blue or the grand line, but I don't think we're ready for that yet." Sabo responded.

"hmmm, its not like we know any other place in East Blue other than Dawn island, so we have no reason to stay." Ace pointed out.

Sabo bit his bottom lip, not that the others could see it, "my last idea, was to go to where Luffy was raised." He said hesitantly, not sure how Luffy would take it. after all, the people from the surrounding village had attacked him and Garp had kidnapped him, so it's not like good things happened there.

"**yeah! Lets go to my home!"** Luffy cheered, flapping his wings in excitement, splashing water on the two boys, luckily Sabo had protected his books and maps with his body when he felt Luffy moving, so his navigation gear wasn't all waterlogged and unusable. But his blanket was soaked.

"luffy!" both boys yelled out in exasperation. Now they were soaked, damn it!

"**shishishishishi."** Luffy laughed, **"sorry,"** he said, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

Ace glared at the dragon while Sabo laughed a little, it was getting a little hot underneath his blanket shade, the water helped to cool him off.

"let's just go to shore, then we can worry about being dry." Sabo said, grinning like a mad man away from the prying eyes of Ace.

"I know your grinning." Ace said.

Sabo's grin got wider, if it was possible, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

the first thing they did after reaching the island was sinking into the arguably very soft sand, Sabo doing it under his still-soaked blanket to escape the sun. Luffy changed into his human form in case there was anyone on the island, not even caring he was in the nude until Ace threw some clothes at him, and even then, he didn't put them on for a few minutes.

"da sanfs so sofd." Luffy mumbled into the ground, getting himself covered in the white grains.

"I_ know_." Sabo said, slowly, and maybe a little reluctantly, pushing himself to his feet, "but I'm hungry, lets go get something to eat."

Luffy was immediately up, closely followed by Ace, "yay! Food!" the dragon yelled, running to the edge of the forest to wait for him brothers. "hurry up! Hurry up!" he shouted, jumping from each foot.

"coming Lu!" Sabo shouted, trying to figure out which way he was meant to go, it was hard to see when your head's covered. Thankfully, Ace wrapped a hand around his shoulder and guided him to the forest. There was some shade, but not enough for it to be safe for Sabo to come out. "hey Lu, I know you just carried us here and your probably tired, but do you think you could find a place for Sabo to hide in, until the sun goes down?" Ace asked.

"but I'm hungry." Whined Luffy with his adorable pout.

"I know, I know. But then you can eat it with both of us and Sabo won't get burnt by the stupid sun." Ace offered.

Luffy perked up, "all right! I get to eat with both my brothers!" he cheered, turning back towards the forest, walking with purpose until he found a bear cave. "found somewhere!" he called behind him to where his brothers were following, Ace guiding Sabo so he didn't trip over the many _many_ tree roots. This forest had a lot of them, not that it would be a problem normally, but right now it was.

"sorry guys, I know I'm useless right now." Sabo bit his lip as he removed his cover when he walked into the Bear Den.

Ace waved it off, "na, no problem, you would do the same for us… you would, right?"

"definitely!" Sabo said, slightly angry that his brothers didn't think he would help them, but he knew he was just joking, "it's just, I feel so useless right now. I wish the sun never affected me." He sighed.

"well, there's nothing we can do about it now, so we might as well learn to live with it." Ace said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, pipe in his hand.

Sabo looked at him in shock, "… who are you and what have you done with Ace?" Sabo asked, confusing both the dragon and the fae.

"huh?" was his intelligent reply.

"there is no way Ace could have said something so smart, so obviously, you're an imposter." Sabo said as if it was the most reasonable conclusion.

"wha – hey! I can be smart!" Ace shouted, glaring Sabo down, daring him to continue.

"nope, definitely not." The blonde continued, "Ace is a reckless idiot." He finished simply.

"Luffy's more reckless then me!" he defended.

"not an excuse, Luffy can get away with being reckless… especially with that extreme luck of his..."

Ace calmed down in contemplation, "true… true."

Luffy looked at them agape, "hey, no fair! Your ganging up on me!" Luffy acused.

"don't worry Luffy, its only the truth." Sabo comforted.

"okay… wait a second! That was an insult, right?" Luffy looked at Sabo for clarification.

He smirked, "who knows." Sabo spun on his heel and walked deeper into the cave, trying to find its inhabitants. "now, who wants to help get breakfast?"

Luffy cheered, following Sabo into the cave, Ace however, didn't go with his brothers, instead he started collecting some firewood to cook their catch afterwards.

Soon enough he had a blaze going and the other two came back with the bear. Quickly skinning and prepping the carcase for cooking, Ace sorted it into edible and inedible bits. Once he was done, he added some spices from his kit that the bandits were kind enough to grab and restock from his small collection. They added flavour and made the meat tastier. He wrapped them all up in big green leaves. After that, he waited until the fire had died down into coals and buried the meat in the ground, slowly roasting the bear in the hottest part of a fire.

The first time he had done this, Luffy had complained that it took too long, but when the finished product revealed itself as a delicious succulent pile of meat, Luffy never complained about Ace's cooking again. It was so much better then burnt or raw meat, so that made it worth the wait.

That didn't stop his stomach from growling thought.

Ace rolled his eyes as Luffy watched him intently as he cooked. He cant blame him, really, it did smell very delicious. "it will be another twenty minutes before this finishes cooking, so while that's happening, want to help me get some vegetables?"

Luffy scrunched up his face, "ew, no." he winced, "vegetables are evil."

Ace glared at him, hitting his little brother on the head for good measure, "I can make veggies great and you know it! Now come and help me get veggies so the meat tastes better."

Luffy grumbled under his breath but followed Ace out of the cave, waving to Sabo as he left and glancing once more at the fire where the meat was buried. "…vegetables are still evil."

Ace didn't even look behind him, "doesn't mean you wont eat them." Luffy pouted.

* * *

Great. Just great.

He got lost. again.

He was helping Ace get some horrible vegetables to eat with the wonderful meat, and then he followed the butterfly with yellow and purple wings and suddenly, he couldn't find Ace anymore.

Luffy huffed in annoyance. Why could Ace just stay in one spot? Why couldn't Ace be responsible like him? Stupid older brothers always getting lost.

Luffy huffed as he continued walking forward, deeper into the forest. He knew the bear cave and Sabo were in the other direction, he could smell it, and he knew food would be ready in fifteen minutes, but that just told him that he had some time. He sniffs the air, following a different scent that lead to the other side of the island, to something tasty.

He didn't know what it was, but it smelt like food. And maybe he could have some of it, a little snack before Ace's breakfast. Luffy licks his lips in anticipation.

Ahead of him is a clearing, he can smell the delicious food coming from there, but now he could here people speaking. Luffy quickly ducked into the bushes at the edge of the clearing, watching what was going on.

The clearing was filled with sailors, or at least they looked like them, most of them wore white or brown shirts with V collars with swords or guns in holsters. Most of them were cheering, eating or drinking in laughter. It made Luffy curious for what they were laughing about. There was a strange man with yellow eyes and a very big sword on his back drinking slowly from a bottle. He was talking to a man with a scar on his face and red hair, he was laughing the loudest in the group and something in Luffy wanted to go up to him and say hi. The sword guy looked annoyed at the man, but didn't say anything, just threw a bottle at him. They both felt very powerful.

Next to them was a guy reading a book with long black hair, he felt strong, but not as much as the other two. There were a couple others who caught his attention, but he mostly kept his eyes on the Big Sword Guy, he seemed different. Not in a bad way, no, just different.

For one, he smelt of blood, like Sabo, but more so. Not like the murderer and killers back in Grey Terminal, it was different. It was like he was a Vampire or something, but that's not true… right?

Luffy's hand slid out from under him and a rock fell loose, clattering loudly on the inconvenient rocks in front of his bush. He froze.

The Man with a sword was looking at him, or at least the bushes around him, with a keen eye. He seemed to be the only one who noticed the noise, just audible about the sounds of the laughing pirates.

There eyes met.

Luffy jumped up and ran as fast as he could. If he got back to his brothers, he would be safe, they always kept him safe.

* * *

Mihawk looked up to the edge of the clearing when his keen ears picked up a noise that shouldn't have been made; it was a rock that had fallen loose and tumbled against the rocks below it. That was odd, the rock shouldn't have fallen down that way, if at all. something was here, watching them.

Mihawk hummed in concentration, staring at the bush above the rocks, trying to spot something that shouldn't fit, that didn't add up.

"yo, Mihawk? You okay?" Shanks asked, but he ignored him, keeping his eyes on the bush. "you've been staring at that bush for a while now, did it hurt your feelings or something?" he jokingly asked, drinking from the bottle with a grin on his face.

The Swordsman didn't answer, just kept staring at the edge of the clearing, trying to find what made his senses become alert.

There!

His eyes widened as they met another pair. They were obsidian black, but the pupils were split vertically, reminding him of the dragons he fought. They were wavering in fear as they stared back at him, afraid of what would happen next, and afraid of being caught. The eyes held more emotions then just the one, but he couldn't tell them apart in the split second he saw them before they were gone.

A boy ran out of the bush, running away from them and into the forest. Mihawk was on his feet, chasing after him before he even realised. He idly notices Shanks yelling after him and following him with ben yelling something about being back before sunset, but he ignores that and pays close attention to where the boy was going.

Speaking of which, he was a kid, a young boy wearing a simple shirt and shorts with scraggly black hair. And he was fast.

But Mihawk was faster.

Coming into a clearing that smelt of food and smoke, Mihawk tackled the kid to the ground, stopping him from getting away.

"AHHH! LET GO OF ME! ACE! SABO! HELP!" he yelled.

The brat was wrigglng out of his grasp as well as he could, but Mihawk quickly rearranged the way he was holding him to stop any attempt at escape. He held the kid off the ground by his wrists, ignoring the weak kicks.

"oi, kid, I'm not going to hurt you." He tried.

"AHHH! ACE! SABO! HELP ME!" the boy yelled, scanning the surrounding bush with feverish eyes.

"I just want to know why you were watching us." He said, trying to calm him down.

"LET GO OF ME!"

"if I do, will you calm down?"

The boy bit his lip and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. He took a deep breath and looked ready to continue yelling for help but was cut off by another boy.

"let go of my brother!" a yell came from the edge of the clearing, in the densest piece of shade around here. Mihawk looked up to see a kid with blue clothes a long coat and a top hat on with a pipe in his hands. The boy was covered in bandages, especially over his left eye, and there was something familiar about him, but he couldn't place it yet. The boy didn't look like he was about to approach but did look ready to attack him if the other brat seemed in danger.

"SABO!" the brat in his arms yelled.

"calm down." He tried, "I'm not going to hurt him, or you."

"then put my brother down." The blond said, clenching the pipe in his arms tighter.

Slowly, Mihawk placed the kid on the ground, and put his arms up, trying not to startle the kids. The brat that was spying on them quickly ran towards his brother, hiding behind the blond.

His presence calmed the top hat kid a lot, and the boy slowly unclenched his hands around the pipe, but didn't let go, or drop his guard.

"who are you." The boy said.

Deciding that it would be easier to just answer the boy's question, then get onto his own, he answered, "Dracule Mihawk."

The blond seemed to recognize the name, but the raven obviously didn't. "why did you grab Luffy." He continued.

Assuming that the other brat was called luffy, Mihawk answered again, "because I saw him watching Red-Hairs camp and I wanted to know what a brat was doing spying on us. I meant no harm by it, just curious." He said calmly, arms still raised in the air.

It was at that moment that they were interrupted. By two different people, from two different sides of the clearing. Shanks ran in from the left of him, and another brat ran in from the right. They would have run into each other if not for him tripping shanks over, making him spin off cause and crash into a tree, startling some birds. The new brat glared at him before running to the other boys, checking them over for any new wounds before facing him with his own pipe raised in defence, ready to attack.

"who are you." The new kid asked. The blond tapped him on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear, probably his name and such.

Mihawk looked over at shanks, who was rubbing his head and pouting, "did you have to trip me, Hawky?" he whined like a kid. Then he noticed the other boys, "who are they?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Shanks," he said, causing the blond kid to gasp and whisper something else into the new kids ear, probably Shanks' titles, if he was to guess, causing the new kid to grasp his pipe with white knuckles, standing in front of the other two protectively. "get over here and stop scaring the kids with your ugly mug." He insulted.

Shanks pouted more, but didn't complain as he dragged himself to his feet and came to stand besides Mihawk, putting his hands in the air as well.

"soooo, what's going on?" the red head asked, ignoring all the tension that would normally be in a situation like this.

Mihawk simplified as well as he could. "I heard a noise, then I saw the brat at the back hiding in the bush. He ran away, so I followed him, and caught him. I meant no harm, I promise, then the blue one showed up and threatened me, so I let the kid go. Then you and the third brat showed up just as we were getting introductions done."

The boys didn't lower their guard after his explanation but relaxed slightly. The brat he caught was still hiding behind the other two but was no longer staring at him in fear and was no longer scared. Probably because he had two people he trusted with his life nearby. Well, at least the boy wasn't spooked anymore. He was now looking at him with something akin to curiosity or wonder.

Shanks laughed at him, "threatened by a kid, huh? Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Shanks wiped an imaginary tear out of the corner of his eyes before looking at the brats with a slightly more serious face, "introductions, huh? Well then, I'm Shanks, what's your names?" he said with a smile.

None of the boys answered before the one in blue answered hesitantly, "I'm Sabo, that's Ace," he pointed to the boy in front of him, "and this is Luffy." He pointed to the boy behind him.

Shanks smiled, "nice to meet you, Ace Sabo and Luffy. How are you on this fine day?" he cheerfully asked.

Luffy perked up a bit, "tired, hungry, scared and curious." He smiled at him before frowning in confusion at Mihawk. He glanced at Mihawk if he knew what that was about, the swordsman returned it, but it was obvious that he didn't. he shrugged.

"curious? About what." Shanks asked good naturedly.

Luffy pointed at Mihawk, "why he smells like blood, but not." He said bluntly.

Ace hissed, "luffy, shut up!" but didn't take his eyes off of them.

The two adults blinked. They were not expecting that. They shared a glance, before returning their gaze back on the boys. "why do you want to know?" it wasn't like they could just say, 'I'm a Vampire' and expect the boys not to run away screaming. They wanted to figure out what they were doing and hopefully help them, they didn't seem to have a parent or adult nearby.

"you smell like Sabo." Luffy shrugged. Sabo slapped his hand over the other boy's mouth.

"Luffy, _shut up_." He hissed, keeping his hand over the younger boy's mouth. Luffy nodded, glancing between the two adults and Sabo.

The five of them lulled into a tense silence. When the blond brat finally released the younger raven, Mihawk asked his first question.

"so, what were you doing spying on us and his crew?" he gestured to shanks.

Luffy smiled, "I was hungry, and something smelled really really good!" he said happily.

Ace and Sabo groaned, Ace spoke first, "I told you to wait before we eat. Why is this so hard for you?"

Luffy pouted, "but I was hungry."

Sabo hugged him, "its okay, we know. So are we, but that still doesn't give you a reason to find a pirate crew to steal from." He told Luffy off, but it was obvious he didn't entirely mean it. He cared about the boy, that much was blindingly obvious.

Ace jerked up suddenly, startling the other boys and Shanks. Mihawk was too dignified to be startled, and no, he definably didn't blink in surprise. It wasn't his style.

"shit!" he yelled before running back the way he came. The other boys looked at them before they followed Ace.

The two adults lowered their arms and looked at each other. Shanks smirked, "wanna go see where they went?" he asked unnecessarily. Mihawk rolled his eyes, before walking in the direction the boys disappeared in.

"oi, you could have at least answered me." The red-haired Captain whined behind him.

"and then you would have attempted to look serious and go after the brats with a weird determination." He said dully.

"wha- hey! I can be serious! And my determination is not weird! Your weird!" he insulted weakly.

"whatever."

* * *

"shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"

Ace ran through the clearing, stopping at the cave and the fire pit he made. Grabbing a stick, he dug into the ground and pulled out all the meat he had buried to cook. When they were all free, he quickly grabbed one and pealed off the green leaves protecting it from the dirt and ash. Looking inside, he sighed in relief, just in time.

The meat was fine.

He started unravelling the rest from their leaves before dividing them up accordingly. Two for Sabo as he didn't need to eat much, twenty for him and seventy for Luffy because he deserves it after carrying them all this way. There were two extras so maybe the two guys he saw can have one… _maybe._ But they have to prove that they deserve it first. He quickly added the fruits he found to the piles, leaving the vegetables to cook later. Because of the interruption, he couldn't finish cooking them, so fruit will just have to do.

Speaking of which, Sabo and Luffy broke the clearing, watching him dish out food on their bark plates. "what was that about?" Sabo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"food was about to burn." He replied simply, passing Sabo his meal so he could eat it in the shade of the cave. Luffy quickly sat in front of his pile and started devouring the meat at record speed. Ace joined him, too hungry to fight over their meal like the usually do. They all ate, Sabo at a reasonable speed and the other two like savage beasts. When the two men from before arrived, they didn't stop, they were barely halfway through their meal.

Shanks and Mihawk didn't question their eating habits, only raising their eyebrow in confusion. They couldn't believe that kids could eat so much except Sabo who was eating a reasonable amount. When all three were done, they looked at the two men with expectant gazes.

"what?" Shanks asked confused.

None of the boys answered, but their stomachs growled for more food.

"oh." Shanks said, realising that they were still hungry, "wait a minute! How are you still hungry!?"

Luffy bit his lip and looked to the side, ace glared at him and Sabo's eyes travelled to the ground in shame.

"ah, I didn't mean it like that. Um, here, follow us and you can eat as much as you want." Shanks compromised. Six eyes boar into his head, trying to discover if this was a trap or not. Shanks stared right back, not letting his gaze wander. After a few tense moments of this, a smile broke out simultaneously on all three boys faces.

"food!" Luffy cheered, jumping to his feet and latching onto the older Raven's back.

Ace stood up, easily carrying the weight of the child and looked hesitantly at Sabo. Mihawk noticed the look and watched Sabo bite his lip. The blond stood up and grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around himself, covering his entire body in shade. Mihawk narrowed his eyes with that while Shanks just scratched his forehead.

"what's with the blanket?" he asked.

Sabo smiled, it was fake, but they didn't say anything about it, "don't want to get sunburnt." He joked.

Shanks narrowed his eyes, he was confused and maybe slightly worried now, "I don't think the suns that dangerous." He says.

"I beg to differ." Mihawk says calmly, Shanks glances at him.

"you don't count."

"of course not. Just let him have the blanket, it's not doing any harm." Mihawk says as he rises to his feet. "now come on before Lucky Roo eats all the food."

The swordsman leads the group out of the forest and into the camp of the Red-Haired Pirates. Some glance up at the new additions to the group, but most didn't even bother, too use to their Captains strange antics.

When they sat in front of Ben and called out for some more food, Ben asked, "who are the kids?"

Shanks smiled, "Ace is the one carrying Luffy, Luffy is the one being carried, and Sabo is wrapped in the blanket." He introduced, "this is Ben, my first mate."

Luffy waved, "hi Mr. long hair! I'm Luffy."

Ben blinked, "Mr. long hair?" he asked. "my name is Ben."

"okay, Mr long hair."

Shanks laughed at the exchange, Luffy seemed so innocent.

Ben drops the subject, hoping the kid would grow out of it. Well, at least he didn't get a bad nickname, sort of. He could live with it.

"so, any reason your wrapped up in the middle of the day?" Ben asked Sabo.

Sabo looked him in the eyes before dropping his line of sight to his nose, "nope, just felt like it." It was a lie and they all knew it, but no one brought it too attention. They didn't want to talk about it, so they won't.

Then the food came. Ace and Luffy dove into the meal instantly, eating everything they could get their grabby little hands on, which was a lot, while Sabo took a plate and ate it at a more sedated pace. When he had finished about half of it, he passed the plate to Luffy, who ate it all like a vacuum.

Most of the surrounding people looked up at the two blackholes as they ate through their meals, stacking the finished plates to the side. When they were done, 20 plates for Ace and 50 for Luffy, they sighed happily with content smiles.

"thank you." Sabo said for them.

Ace glanced up at the words then at the Captain, "what he said."

Luffy didn't even bother.

Shanks started talking to them about tales of his adventures, the boys were surprisingly entrapped in the story, listening to every word he said with their undivided attention. Of course, Ace still glanced around the clearing every now and again, searching for anyone who seemed ready to attack them. Their worry set alarm bells ringing in Shanks' head, kids shouldn't worry about things like this, especially when it was around people who meant them no harm.

Behaviour like this is bread from habit, the boys must have been tricked or betrayed. Their trust must have been broken so many time that the only people they could rely on is themselves, never even trying to lean on others for help. Shanks didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do about it, except help.

And he would do that to the best of his ability.

Mihawk picked up a stray Newspaper and looked at the front cover. It was a picture of the escaped Vampire running away from the guards with a small boy. He idly read the article again, even If he knew it off by heart already, then glanced up to where the boys were sitting, listening to Shanks' story.

He frowned; something wasn't right. He looked down at the picture, taking in every detail he could before comparing it to the boys. He blinked. He compared them again, and then once more with the same results. His frown deepened.

"Sabo." He called. When the red-haired captain stopped his story to look at him in confusion, closely followed by the brats, he continued, "Is this you?" he held up the paper with the picture of him and Luffy running away.

All three boys flinched. Sabo hid a bit deeper in his blanket, Ace raised his pipe protectively and Luffy hid between his two brothers.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." Mihawk lowered the paper and stood up, climbing to his feet and dusting himself off.

"are you going to take me back there?" Sabo asked tensely.

"I won't let you." Luffy glared, hugging Sabo and refusing to let go.

"don't touch my brothers." Ace growled, glaring as the swordsman approached.

Mihawk raised his arms calmingly, "don't worry, I mean you no harm. In fact, I was looking for you, Sabo."

Sabo blinked, going out of his stance slightly, "huh?"

Seeing this as a chance to explain, Mihawk crouched down in front of the boys, "well, since your only ten or eleven years old, I would say you only have a basic understand of what you can do with your bloodline. Am I right?" the swordsman asked.

"blood…line?"

Shanks smirked behind Mihawk, "I guess you cant tell, but this guy here is a Vampire like you." Mihawk hit him with his hand over the back of his head, making shanks eat the dirt.

"as the idiot said, yes, I'm like you."

It took a moment for the boys to process this information, but when they did, they lowered their guard significantly, but still not completely, and spurred into a million questions.

"You're a vampire?" Luffy asked wonderstruck.

"y-you… are like me?" that was Sabo.

"And these guys don't want to kill you? Or enslave you? Or trap you?" that was Ace, ever the pessimist, as he pointed to the surrounding pirates who were paying closer attention to what was going on but not standing up, they didn't want to spook the kids or make them run away from them.

Shanks jumped back in shock, "kill hawky!? How could I even think that?" He shouted in mock horror, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"don't call me that."

Luffy laughed at his antics, "Shanks is funny."

Sabo reevaluated Mihawk, taking him in more than just face value and the Government propaganda. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "wait a minute, if you're a Vampire, why aren't you burning? The sun is really bright today and I can feel it even through this stupid blanket." He said, pulling the cover around him tighter to protect him from the vicious sun.

Mihawk held up his hand to display a small deep purple rock embedded in a ring on his middle finger. "the ring is made with a specific type of stone that blocks the effects of the sun. I would give you one, but I've only got this one. They are very rare."

Sabo narrowed his eyes, the swordsman could be telling the truth, or this could be some big trick to trap him and his brothers and take them back to the Celestial Dragon. He looked around at the nearby pirate, not even one of them were secretly preparing for a fight, they were all still relaxing and eating their breakfast, albeit, they are watching what's happening, but it was more out of curiosity then fear or anger.

"prove it." Ace said while glaring at the older Vampire.

Mihawk stared dully at him before reaching out for Sabo's hand. After a moment's hesitation, the boy placed his hand in Mihawk's, causing him to gasp. His eyes widened in surprise.

"ah, Sabo! What's wrong?" Luffy freaked out, seeing that his usually calm and composed brother gasp in surprise in this dangerous situation, even though none of the pirate actually mean them harm. But they don't know that.

"n-no, Luffy I'm okay." Sabo stuttered.

"Sabo, what's happening?" Ace said, surprisingly calm for this. Normally he would be yelling and screaming at the stranger to let him brother go or trying to hit them with his pipe and run away, but he isn't doing that right now. Maybe it's because of the strange feeling he can feel from all the pirates nearby, its warm and fuzzy, and maybe he just might be a little curious. But the feeling didn't feel bad or evil or hold any malicious intent, so he can't help but be a little more relaxed around them than others. Or maybe he was imagining things.

Sabo blinked in surprise, letting go of Mihawk's hand and flinching in pain immediately, "he's telling the truth, the stone does stop the burns. He is a Vampire." The Blond said with strong conviction.

Shanks laughed, "told you so." He said with a wide grin. Luffy replying with his own big grin, but then remembered where they were and it disappeared into a look of caution and suspicion, a look that was definitely odd on the young boy's face. And surprisingly cute since his suspicious face looked like a mix between a glare and a pout.

"and you promise not to hurt us?" luffy said almost accusingly but not quite as it still sounded like he was annoyed at his best friend for stealing his meat. Ace and Sabo joined Luffy in staring at the strongest adults, Mihawk and Shanks, waiting for an answer.

Both men look the boys in the eyes before speaking, they could tell that they hold promises in high regard so they will have to keep track of any promise they make as well as keeping them, it would be bad to break a promise. "we promise." The said in union.

Almost instantly, wide grins stretched across each of their faces, luffy cheered happily before running around to talk to strangers, while Ace followed after him to make sure he didn't hurt himself somehow, however unnecessary it is, and Sabo stayed put, grinning at the adults like a madman.

"Any idea where I could get one of those stones, so I don't have to live under this blanket for the rest of my life?" Sabo asked.

Mihawk smirked, "sure I do, but it's rather dangerous." He said mysteriously, standing up to his full high now that the tension has vanished.

Sabo waved a hand to dismiss his thoughts, "we don't care if it's dangerous, come on just tell me." His eyes shone with the possibility of getting one of those stone, it would be brilliant. He wouldn't burn anymore, and he could spend more time around his brothers without messing up their sleep schedule, he can go outside in daytime without a blanket, and he wouldn't have to feel like he's slowly cooking underneath it. It would be great.

Mihawk looked the kid in the eyes, slightly surprised by the determination they showed but not entirely, all three boys were strong and were going to be literal powerhouses when they grow up, he could tell by the conviction they each show, even at this age. Only people with a strong conviction ever make it far, everyone else will be left behind. "Fine." He relented, he was going to tell the kid anyway, "as long as you take me and the Red-Haired crew with you wherever we end up going."

Sabo smirked, "easy."

Mihawk returned the smirk with one of his own, "good. Well the only place I know where you can get an Alteff stone is in a dragon horde. Definitely not the safest place for three kids."

"Dragon?" Sabo asked, glancing at Luffy discreetly.

Shanks nodded, "yeah, they're big scary beasts that could eat you any second and have huge hordes of treasure." He said in a spooky voice, attempting to scare the young vampire. Sadly, it didn't work, Sabo just raised an eyebrow and looked at Luffy again, comparing what he knew about Dragons and what Shanks was saying. In the end, he trusted his knowledge over Shanks' story so he discarded it as nonsense.

"Really?" he asked skeptically. Unsurprisingly, Shanks and Mihawk took it as his disbelief on the existence of dragons.

"Yeah, Dragons are real." Shanks said, "and would you believe it if I said I met one?" when Sabo raised both his eyebrow, Shanks took it as a sign to continue, "she was a fiery red dragon, very nice and kind, but very scary when someone touched her horde. The most important thing to remember about dragons is that not all of them are evil, some are very friendly." Okay, now Sabo believe him. "Also, never, ever try and steal from their hordes of treasure, it never ends well." He warned.

Shanks scratched the back of his neck, "only problem with this is that Dragons will never give you an Atleff stone, they are super rare and even though they are deemed as unimportant by pretty much everything else in the world, Dragons will still protect it with everything they've got if it's apart of their hordes." Sabo could think of a way or two to get around that, he looked over to Luffy, some very easy ways to get around that. "And we don't know where any current treasure hordes are. 10 years ago after the massive hunts by the Wold Government to get rid of all the remaining Dragons, any dragons left took their treasure and relocated to remote and isolated places. Neither of us know where one is so you're probably going to be without an Atleff stone for a bit."

Sao bit his lip as he looked between the two adults and his brothers, but mostly Luffy. After a few seconds of consideration, he calls Luffy over, Ace following diligently. "Hey, Mihawk… can… can you let Luffy see the stone?" he asked tensely.

Mihawk blinks but holds out his hand to the confused dragon in disguise. "I don't see why not."

Sabo looks at Luffy, "do you have any of those at your home?" he asks cryptically.

"He isn't going to have any." Mihawk interrupted, "you were just told they were super rare."

Sabo glances up at Mihawk, "just let him try, he has a huge collection of shiny things."

"But it's not shiny." Shank says.

"Doesn't matter." Sabo turned back to Luffy, "hey Luffy, can you tell me if you have any more of these, they will block the sun from burning me." He said with a genuine smile.

Luffy hums, "don't know." as he steps towards Mihawk, he reaches an arm out to get a closer look at the stone, Mihawk obliges curiously. Luffy pulls the swordsman's hand closer to his eye so he can get a better look at it, he notices the swirling ever-changing pattern of the purple on black. Yep, he has definitely seen this before. Glancing up at the people watching him tensely, he makes up his mind to do a slightly dangerous thing, but if it's for Sabo, he can do it.

He changes his eyes to a dragons.

The pupils shrink and split, the white outsides change to a deep red and black streaks stream though it. Hoping no one notices the change, Luffy goes back to his inspection, turning the swordsman's hand every which way to make it easier to get different angles on the rock, categorizing it and comparing it to his latest memory of his home. His tongue sticks up in concentration.

Coming up with an answer, Luffy blinks a few times to change his eyes back to the dull human blacks. He lets go of the swordsman's hand and takes a step back, mentally counting how many he should have at home.

"I have six." He said after a moment.

"SIX!?" Shanks shouted, eyes opened wide and mouth hanging open in surprise. Mihawk wasn't in a better condition, but he was too composed to let his mouth drop to the floor, oh no, his eyes where wide but his mouth was still at a logical place, hanging open.

This was illogical, impossible even. The Atleff stones are one of the rarest stone on the planet, there was no way this kid had one, let alone _six_. That's more than Mihawks seen in his entire life!

"How do you have six!?" Mihawk yelled, drawing the attention of nearby pirates.

Luffy opens his mouth as if to answer the question, but Sabo steps in before he could say anything, "Luffy collects cool rocks and shiny things. But we can't get there without some help, so if your offer still stands, could you please give us a lift to Luffy's home?"

"he has _six_." Mihawk said, still unbelieving.

"we got that." Shanks said, not in much better condition, "Anyway, do you know the name of the island Luffy's from, since I take it that it isn't Dawn Island where the Celestial Dragon found you?"

Sabo nodded and looks at Luffy to answer. The dragon bites his lip as he thinks, what was the name of this island? He always called it home, he didn't know it had some different name. What did his friend call it? Or was it supposed to be the villagers before they tried to kill him? Dammit! What was the name?!

Sabo was about to stop Luffy from thinking anymore as his head started to heat up and steam began to come off it from the effort he was putting in to thinking about it.

Then it clicked.

Luffy jumped up, "the Barchiro isles!" he cheered happy that he remembered the name.

Shanks nodded, he knew where that was, "that island is still in the East blue, and luckily I know how to get there. it's about three week's journeys from here. So, we will have to stop at one of the islands beforehand to restock, we needed to do that soon anyway, before arriving at the only village on the island." He summarised.

Luffy nodded in agreement, that was how long it took to get to Dawn Island on Garps ship.

Mihawk hummed, "if you don't mind, I'm going to tie my ship to yours, I'll be travelling with you, and if Sabo wants, I'll teach him a thing or two." He looked at Sabo as he said that, making the boy bite his lip in nervousness. He doesn't practically want to learn or do anything concerning his bloodline, but maybe, if he does he might be able to control it more and hopefully protect his brothers better so something like this never happens ever again. He nodded slowly.

"We'll set off tomorrow." Shanks told the boys, then louder to the crowd, "you here that men? We're leaving tomorrow, so get all your stuff on the boat tonight so we can have a great party!" he called, causing the surrounding pirates to cheer in agreement, some of them even raising a glass to their captain.

* * *

**Omake**

Sabo nervously walked up to Mihawk. "umm, Mihawk, sir... why did my wounds heal when i ate from... somebody?" he asked hesitantly, figeting with his fingers.

Mihawk looks down curiously at the younger Vampire. he wasn't really surprised by the question, but he was more concerned the Sabo had wounds that needed to be healed in the first place. "when we drink Human Blood, our body reacts to it by putting itself in the best condition possible, that includes healing fatal wound or even regrowing entire limbs. but remember that this cannot heal bad burns given to us by the sun. those will stay with us for the rest of our lives or until they naturally go away."

Sabo nodded intently, he understood that. it just means he has to be careful until he could get one of the cool stones. and it means he gets to keep his wickedly cool burn scars.

"thanks Mihawk." the kid smiled up at him and left to do some chores he and his brothers have been assigned to while they stay on the ship.

* * *

**Hello guys! Hope you liked this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope I represented the characters well… I think I did well with Mihawk… but i would like you opinions. Please review; reviews are great. next chapter will be the last of the prologue series, so now we can get started on whitebeards crew and ASL… hehehehe… moving on! hope you look forward to it.**

**See you next chapter**


	6. Home

**HELLO, TO EVERYONE WHO READS THIS! Thank you for doing so.**

**Anyway, you better be happy, after all this chapter is DOUBLE the size of any previous chapter. Fuck, it took too long to write… anyway, this chapter is a massive 18,610 words long, so be happy. **

**Enjoy and review! I love review!**

* * *

As soon as they arrived at Shanks' ship, the Red Force, the trio where taken to their assigned room to unpack. It didn't take long as even with all of their belongings, they still had less than a full bag, and that was mostly full of a random assortment of items. But soon enough, all of Ace's cookbooks and Sabo's biology, science and adventure novels for Luffy were all on the empty shelf provided for them and most other things where either in the closet, if they were clothes, or on the desk, to entertain Luffy if he ever got bored.

After that was done, the brothers went outside to see if there was anything else they needed to do, turns out Shanks is making them Chore Boys, so they have to clean the ship and help out with the odd jobs to get a lift to Luffy's home island. it was a reasonable offer and they agreed. Ace even asked if he could help out in the kitchen more often than not. Shanks agreed.

Mihawk had tied his little one-man ship to the side of Shanks' and is pretty much living there except for mealtimes or the parties Shanks' crew start, then, he's a freeloader. But no one would ever dare to say something against it, he's too scary. Mihawk had given Sabo a thick cloak to wear pretty much everywhere until they find an Altef stone to stop the effects of the sun. It had a large hood that doesn't impede his sight like the blanket did and went all the way to the ground but surprisingly didn't drag, something Sabo was very thankful for. The cloak was a dark blue and fit in with everything else he liked to wear, he was still wearing the weird clothes he got from his time in captivity, they were comfortable, he just hated the shoes.

They set the shoes on fire. It was awesome. Then they threw them into the ocean and watch them slowly fall apart. That was even better.

The doctors and medic staff on board the Red Force had demanded a checkup as soon as feasibly possible, so the boys found themselves in the infirmary a little under an hour of being on the ship. All of Ace's burns from the fire where healing up nicely, most of them probably won't even scar, some of the others might, but they were mostly on his right arm. Ace wasn't annoyed by that or scared by the permanent scaring; in fact, he was exited for his wicked cool scar he could show off to his younger brothers. He was grinning like a mad man for the next hour.

Sabo had the burns he got from the sunlight, they wouldn't heal over and everyone knew that, Mihawk explained it to them, but they will scar. with it being over his eye, the doctors had been afraid that he would lose his vision there, but his eye was fine, it just had a huge burn over it. he followed in Ace's example and grinned like a madman, also looking forward to show off his awesome scar to Luffy, he just knew it would be cooler then the one Ace had on his arm.

Both boys would still be wrapped up in bandages for the next week or so.

Shanks' crew didn't really act like the pirates back home, more like the pirates they wanted to grow up to be. They seek freedom and adventure and were kind and honest. They help anyone in need, no matter what colors they fly; whether it be Marine, Civilian or fellow pirates, they will help. But they do enjoy a scuffle every now and again, so if a pirate crew or marine ship comes around to challenge the Yonko, they are usually met with a lot of their men thrown overboard with the rest knocked unconscious, they didn't want to permanently hinder them or kill them outright, that would be going overboard for these East Blue weaklings.

But they only did that to the pirates they deem worthy of a second chance.

Anyone involved in slavery is killed mercilessly and efficiently, as well as any pirates who raid towns and villages for the fun of raping and pillaging the locals. That is just unacceptable.

So yeah, they didn't act like the stereotypical pirate the Marine propaganda wants people to believe.

The chores they had to do where easy enough, normally cleaning the deck since Luffy can't concentrate very hard on pretty much everything else. He couldn't work anywhere near the kitchens after Lucky Roo, the head chef, caught him eating the entire meal they had made for everyone before anyone else even got called in for dinner. they had to eat fruits that night because everything else got eaten. Luckily, they caught a Seaking the next day which was big enough to feed everyone for a week or two depending on how well they store it and guard it from a certain little boy.

They had been on the ship for a little over a week when Luffy tried to help with the rigging on the ship, he was thrown overboard by a loose rope that had wrapped itself around his ankle.

That had been a shock everyone, Shanks being the first to react and jump in the water after him. Luffy couldn't swim very well in his human form still, so he continued to thrash and splash every which way until the water finally pulled him under the surface. Ace and Sabo where just glad that Luffy could still hold his breath for an hour in this form, it's longer in his other form, but an hour is fine for now. it was the only thing keeping them calm, or calmer than most of the other pirates in their vicinity anyway, and stopping them from diving after Luffy. Shanks was going to get him, and they knew he would be fine.

Still didn't stop them from worrying. They quickly joined the group of sailors on the side of the ship waiting for the boy to reappear, Sabo pulled the cloak over his head tighter in worry.

When Shanks swam out to where Luffy sunk, he took a deep breath and dived into the dark water. Immediately swimming straight down after the wayward boy. he could see Luffy right there below him. Shanks kept swimming, one hand in front to grab the boy as soon as possible to get him out of the ocean.

Luffy had his eyes shut and his mouth closed, he can't turn into a dragon and swim out of the ocean because he knew everyone would be watching him, and he saw Shanks jump overboard after him, he couldn't do that, not when he promised his brothers he wouldn't change in front of other people without at least one of their permissions. He had to wait for shanks to get him.

The boy knew the pirate captain would come for him, and wouldn't stop until he got him, so all he had to do was wait. He was so happy he could hold his breath longer than humans in this form, it made these sorts of problems so much easier to deal with.

He didn't know how long it took, but Shanks' strong grip wrapped around his wrist, pulling him into his chest and holding him tight, silently promising never to let go, never leave him alone. Luffy gripped the captain's shirt with all his might, knowing that he didn't have to, Shanks had him in his strong and sturdy grasp. But that didn't stop him from trying to help.

Shanks saw the beast before Luffy.

It was a large monster of the seas, a terrifying creature that would send many adults running in fear. A black and blue mix of scales crossed over its back, creating strange patterns as it moved towards them. its belly was filled with lighter blue scales patched in a way that made it invisible to the other creatures in the sea. Its body was streamline to slink thought the water at fast speeds. The teeth white and dangerous, jaw slightly opened to prepare for its next easy meal. The small ears behind its head twitched, as if relaying feedback to the beast, and its eyes stared them down with a certainty only found in the Dragons.

The beast was a water dragon, and definitely not a friendly one at that.

As it neared, Shanks could feel Luffy tense in his grip, trying to turn around to see what Shanks could see. He didn't let him though, knowing that the kid would probably try to gasp or scream only to end up coughing and drowning. Shanks swam faster, kicking his legs with a desperation found only in life or death situations. He wasn't scared for himself; he knew he could handle the beast if necessary, no, he was scared for Luffy's. they had to have been down there for a few minutes at least, his lungs where burning. He couldn't imagine what state the kids would be in, honestly he was surprised Luffy hadn't started swallowing water yet, he must be under a lot of pressure.

However, unknown by Shanks, Luffy was perfectly fine being under the water, being able to hold his breath for really long times had its perks, but he was a lot more worried about Shanks and the creature he could feel creeping up on them. it was big, that was all he knew, and it was after them. Luffy felt a strange connection to it, not like they would immediately be friends, definitely not, it was more like he would instantly become its enemy, something he didn't practically agree with. He didn't like making enemies, proffering to make friends instead, even when he knows that person probably isn't the best 'friend' material. His brothers called him a moron for it.

Finally, Luffy was just able to twist himself enough to get a glance at monstrous teeth and a scaled body. He knew what it was immediately, it was a dragon, but not one like him. it was one of the water ones he had seen in the book Sabo found, a water dragon.

This was bad. He was probably attacking because Luffy was entering his territory without his say so, making the dragon believe that he was here to attack and steal from it. And the fact that he was a fire dragon didn't help, they didn't exactly get alone with the water dragons as far as him mother told him. she had said to him one night, "if you ever face a Water dragon, don't try and befriend it, the dragon won't accept it and will try and eat you, okay? Until you can defend yourself, run. Run away from the water dragon and don't stop running until your back in our territory, got it?" she had told him.

But he can't do that.

first off, he couldn't swim away because he can't swim in this form and he can't transform because Shanks is watching, secondly, he couldn't fight the dragon off because he knew it would win, it was bigger, older and stronger then Luffy, and it was in the ocean where its power ruled supreme. Exactly how earth dragons cannot be beaten when on land and Sky dragons are very hard to beat in the air, its where their power is the strongest.

He held onto Shanks harder, hoping they reach the surface soon. They've been under water for a while now, so Shanks had to be almost passing out by now, Ace had told him that humans don't normally hold their breath for hours, so he had to be careful otherwise they'll find out.

The dragon was getting closer and closer, they had about ten seconds, Shanks was swimming up faster and faster, filled with determination and desperation. They couldn't tell how far away the surface was, but it looked very close.

The Dragon was close enough now that Shanks could see it in finer detail, but it was all for naught as his vision started clouding over and darkening, the first signs of passing out. He didn't stop swimming up and he never loosened his grip on Luffy, but soon enough he won't be able to hit the dragon away and stop it from killing them both. Things were not looking too good.

The next couple of things happened so fast, most people watching from the boat couldn't see most of it. First, Shanks broke the surface of the water with Luffy in his arms, causing everyone onboard the ship to cheer happily, someone even calling to bring out the Sake for a party. Next the dragon reached the surface as well, leaping over them and pulling the two under the water, Ace and Sabo had jumped overboard to go save their brother, but were held back by Yassop and Lucky Roo, Ben jumped overboard to go after them instead. In the water, Shanks didn't release Luffy, in fact he held him tighter as they tumbled through the waves and currents produced by the dragon, and finally stopped with the monster in front of them, eyeing them down.

Luffy moved so he could see the dragon, it was big and intimidating, easily staring them down with a glare. He glanced up at shanks, who was staring back at it with a look in his eyes that _dared_ the creature to hurt them, to attack or move anywhere near them. Luffy looked back at the dragon and released a low growl without opening his mouth, he did it, not to threaten the fellow dragon, but to tell him he is not afraid and will attack back if necessary, but he doesn't want to fight it. He is apologizing for entering the other dragon's territory without knowing and will leave as soon as possible, but only if the dragon leaves him and the human alone.

The water dragon flinches from the stare given to him by the fire dragon infant, but decided that he came out all this way, he might as well make a snack out of the human. He ignored the warning, he was bigger and stronger after all, and in his proffered form. In a fight, he would win. The water dragon charged at them again.

As it neared, Shanks kicked the beast on the snout, surprising both dragons that he is fully capable of fighting back. Luffy knew he was strong, but not this strong. The dragon spiraled downwards before it righted itself and came at them again, this time from below. At the last minute, Shanks dodged to the side just barely. Its tooth scraped against Luffy face, cutting it just beneath the eye and took an arm off Shanks. The Dragon stopped charging them, deciding it was too much effort for such a small snack. He ran away with his tail between his legs and an arm in its jaw.

Shanks kicked his legs to get to the surface of the ocean yet again. They reached air a lot faster this time, both of them gasping for air. Shanks because he needed it, and Luffy because he couldn't stop crying.

Luffy clung to Shanks as tightly as he could, "s-s-shanks!" he cried, burying his face in his chest.

Shanks smirked though the pain, trying his best not to show any weakness to the boy, "don't worry, Luffy. You'll always be safe here." He said, giving the boy a one-armed hug.

"b-but shanks!" Luffy cried harder, "your arm!" tears streamed down his face as blood pooled in the ocean. He couldn't care less about the cut under his eye, no matter how much it stung, because Shanks just lost an arm _for him_. if that didn't mean something, he didn't know what did.

Shanks smiled softly, "don't worry about it, it's just an arm." He tried to calm the kid down, it sort of worked, but didn't stop Luffy from crying his eyes out.

When Ben reached them, he took Luffy off his Captains hand and brought both back to the ship, calling for the doctor as he went. As soon as all three were on board, Ace and Sabo immediately sprung onto their brother, checking to see if he was okay and if he was injured. Luffy didn't stop crying the entire time, deciding to cling to Ace and give him a big hug because he seeks comfort in the people he trusted most. Ace took him to the infirmary while holding Luffy in his arms with a piece of cloth pressed up against Luffy's cut. Every now and again, he would wipe away the tears and speak comforting words to the scared dragon child. Sabo followed intently.

Shanks was taken away to the infirmary to get the arm looked after. Ben following him to give moral support and Mihawk watching from a distance, mourning the loss Shanks suffered. The entire time, Shanks didn't lose his smile, well, until he got to the infirmary. Then he started yelling and screaming about a crazy doctor with too many needles while his arm got treated.

After a few hours, shanks and Luffy came out of the infirmary together, Shanks was holding Luffy with his remaining arm while his missing one was bandaged up neatly. Luffy had stopped crying a while ago, but refused to let go of Shanks, afraid he will lose his friend. The boy had to get two stitches for the cut under his eye, he didn't really care about it much and the pain was practically gone now, but his brothers still fretted over him about everything. They made sure he was okay, and he found comfort in that. His brothers would never leave him.

In front of the captain, Sabo pushed Ace into a low bow, he spoke for them both, "thank you for saving our brothers life." He said sincerely.

"what he said." Ace kept his eyes on the ground, trying his best to fight the instinct to stand up straight and look the person he was talking to in the eye. He never bowed to people before, he was raised by mountain bandits after all, so this was very awkward and weird for him. but he was sincere, he was thankful Shanks saved Luffy from the other dragon.

Shanks laughed it off, "its fine brats, and I'll happily do it again to save you or Anchor's life." He said cheerfully.

Ace and Sabo blushed from the compliment, they were normally very rare and far between, so having someone tell them they would give up their other arm just for them, made them a little embarrassed. Sabo was slightly better at hiding his.

Luffy looked up at Shanks, "Anchor?" he asked.

"yep. Since you sink like an Anchor, that's your nickname now." Shanks said cheerfully, "now, let's party!" the surrounding pirates laughed at the words, so used to it by now that they expected it.

"captain." The doctor said from behind Shanks, "what did I say about the Alcohol?" he asks, grinning evilly.

"ummm, that I should have as much as possible." He spoke with a serious face.

"nope, try again."

"that I should bring out the best stuff for the celebration?" trying to buy time as he looked for an escape route.

The doctor laughed evilly, "nope. As I see that you might have forgotten, I guess I'll have to remind you. no alcohol for the next week." He said at length. Shanks tried to use Puppy Dog eyes on the doctor, but it didn't work, he was an expert at ruining the hearts of his patients.

"_please_," Shanks asked.

"no." was the quick and short reply.

Shanks sighed, giving up, "fine. Okay boys, you can put the liquor away, we will celebrate next week." He said sadly, crocodile tears streaming down his face as he hugged Luffy tightly for comfort.

"there there, shanks, I don't like alcohol either." Luffy comforted, patting the captain on the head. This only caused him to become even sadder, his pout reaching record degrees.

"sorry Captain, but we're going ahead with the drinks. The doc said you can't drink, not us." One of his men called from a distance.

"what! No fair!" Shanks got up, pouting at his men.

"rules are rules, Captain. And if you don't follow my instructions, I'll increase it too two weeks." The doctor grinned evilly as his Captain fell back onto the floor, hugging Luffy and crying crocodile tears.

Shanks started mumbling, "it's not fair, why does everyone else get to drink, I wanna drink, *sniffle*, there being mean, Luffy. Can you tell them to stop being mean?"

"hey guys!" Luffy called from within Shanks grasp, "Shanks says to stop being mean!" he called before hugging Shanks back, thriving with the comfort it brought. His brothers were close by, keeping a shoulder on their brother at all times, making sure he knows they are there and always will be. They knew the dragon lived off physical contact with others, wanting hugs all the time and holding hand with them as much as he can. Sabo thinks it has something to do with the whole 'dragons don't leave their mothers until they're 25' thing, but he isn't sure. It could just be a Luffy thing and had nothing to do with his dragon self, but they didn't know.

"tell shanks to grow up!" one of the Men drinking from a mug called back, causing a bunch of nearby pirates to laugh.

Luffy looked at Shanks before saying, "they said to tell you to grow up." He said humorlessly and with a dead serious face.

Shanks sniffled again, forming a cloud with lightning and rain directly above his head. The watching pirates raised an eyebrow, weather like that usually only formed in the grand line, what's it doing out here? "at least you won't leave me." he mumbled to luffy.

"hey, luffy, Ace, Sabo! we have a table of meat here for you!" Ben said, waving a chunk of meat in his hand to the boys.

All three where there in an instant, leaving the Captain behind to mourn his loss of alcohol.

Mihawk came to sit down beside him. when the captain stopped crying and started eating some of the amazing food his chef cooked for him, the swordsman spoke, "think you'll still be able to swing that sword of yours?" he asked, he knew the answer. Shanks had been a two-handed swordsman, and while he can use one-handed styles, it wasn't his best. Mihawk only fought with the best because everyone else was a waste of time. Unless they prove themselves to him, but that's a different story.

Shanks hummed in thought as he chewed his food, after swallowing he answered, "of course I can still use it, the question is if I can use it as well as I could before, and that would be a no. so while I'm happy to spar you, I don't think I'll be as good as I was before without some practice. Speaking of which, when we get to the next island, do you want to spar?" Shanks asked with a wide grin, completely over his previous depressed state.

"no. not until you can prove to me that it will be worth my time." Mihawk said instantly, holding up a bottle of South Blue Wine, the best of the best, and taking a sip. It was from his own collection as Shanks ran out a while back.

"aww… but it could be fun?" Shanks offered.

"no."

Shanks laughed before eating the rest of the meal. "so, how are your lessons with Sabo going?"

Mihawk thought for a moment before answering, "he is afraid of being a Vampire. It's understandable, since the first time he ate human blood he was forced into it and accidentally killed the man."

Shanks winced, "how did you find out?"

"he told me." Mihawk answered, "the entire time he looked terrified as if it would happen again and he would hurt one of you, but for some reason, he was never afraid that he will hurt his brothers. Normally that's the first thing someone fears about, hurting the people closest to you."

"maybe he just knew he wouldn't hurt them on instinct?" Shanks offered. He wasn't exactly the all-knowing guru concerning everything Vampire related, so he really didn't know how this usually went. Mihawk never tells him that stuff.

"no. instinct doesn't tell you that." He shot the suggestion down, "in fact, normally instinct would be telling him to eat them as they are close to him a lot of the time, and they should smell human."

Shanks blinked, "should?"

"oh right, neither of the boys smell human. Sabo is understandable, but the other two I have no clue. Luffy reminds me of a lizard, and the closest thing I can think of is a dragon, but I've never seen a child dragon so I wouldn't be able to tell if Luffy is one or not, adding to the fact that if he was, he would be dead as he doesn't have a parent and he is younger than 25. Dragons shouldn't and probably can't leave the nest until they're 25 or they will normally die without their mothers being nearby. So Luffy can't be a dragon. Now, Ace reminds me of a bird, but I have no idea how that happened since he is definitely not a bird. The closest thing I can think of is the harpies or the Fae, but harpies have been extinct for almost a century and have wings instead of arms and claws instead of feet. The Fae however, have only been extinct for about 10 years or so, the last Fae that I know of is miss Rouge. But I doubt Ace is a Fae unless he is the son of Miss Rouge. Which is probably impossible after the Hunts the government sent after her, trying to kill her and the unborn child of Roger." Mihawk explained, completely confused.

Shanks shrugged as if it was no big deal, "well it doesn't matter either way, since they're still the boys we know. If they are in fact not human, it is up to them if they want to tell us or not. Heck, they might even be human, and your nose is just messed up."

Mihawk nodded slightly in agreement, "I agree, no point in forcing them to tell us everything when it's not even our business… and my nose is not messed up." He grumbled under his breath. Sadly, Shanks still heard him, causing the red head to laugh at the Vampire.

"dahahahaha! You're so funny, Mihawk." He laughed, easily making the swordsman grumble under his breath as the captain threw a hand over his shoulder.

On the other side of the ship, three boys smiled. They had heard the conversation between the two men, and they knew they could trust them, today showed them that much. The boys were happy that they were accepted, no matter what they were, and they were glad they wouldn't push for answers.

Maybe, just maybe, they might tell them. they had proven themselves trustworthy enough to know, now it was just a matter of if they wanted to or not.

The three shared a glace and smiled.

Not today, maybe later.

* * *

The island they stopped at on the way to Barchiro isles was small. It had a small forest with equally small animals, they were actually normal sized but the boys were use to larger and gigantic animal. They docked the ship in the port of the only village on the island, some men going out to party while others stayed on board to protect the ship. A group of about five people went out to restock the ship, going with ben and Yassop as they oversaw inventory.

Ace walked up to shanks, "so when are we leaving?" he asked as politely as he could manage, which wasn't very polite.

"tomorrow morning, so make sure your back by then. If you don't return by midnight, we will send a search party out." He joked, but everyone was fully aware that he meant it. He cared about the boys.

"that won't be needed, we will be back on time." Ace said.

Shanks grinned before asking, "so, where are you off to anyway?"

Luffy, who had just managed to climb on top of Sabo's shoulders without knocking the hood of the cloak off his head, cheered, "were going exploring!"

Shanks smirked, "well then, go ask Lucky Roo for an adventurers bento box before you leave. Trust me, they are delicious."

"yay! Food!" Luffy cheered, pointing Sabo in the direction of the kitchen. "let's go get food, Sabo!" Sabo laughed as he walked to the kitchen, easily grabbing a bento from the head chef. Lucky Roo had expected the boys to do something like this and had already packed two jumbo sized lunch boxes and a normal sized one for the boys.

"thanks Lucky!" Luffy called as they left the kitchen, waving to the chef.

"no worries, luffy! I love cooking for you three!" he called after the boys, waving back as they left.

Ace waited for them on deck after grabbing everything else they may need and storing it in a tattered bag they found two years ago in Grey Terminal. He knew he should get a new one but didn't want to spend any money on it until it was absolutely necessary.

"come on." Ace said to his brothers, leading the way off the boat. Sabo adjusted the was Luffy was sitting on his shoulders so it was more comfortable on him and would make it less likely the younger boy would fall off. He passed the Bento boxes over to Ace so he could carry them in his bag and quickly walked in time with him, holding luffy's legs so he wouldn't jump off.

It made keeping Luffy out of trouble so much easier when they did this, and luffy could see over the heads of other people so has fun while doing it, constantly seeing new things and watching different stuff happen everywhere. He could even see the street performer juggling three colourful balls while balancing a spinning plate on his nose. It was awesome, in fact, it was so awesome that Luffy's eyes turned into stars as he leaned forward on Sabo's shoulders to try and get closer.

"so cool!" he yelled excited.

He forgot about it when the smell of meat hit his nose. He turned in the other direction to see a stall with cooking chicken in the back. "FOOD!" he yelled, pointing in front of him to try and get Sabo to go that way. Sabo sighed but grabbed Ace's arm and gestured in another direction.

"we'll get him some food now to distract him." Sabo said, leading the way to the stall. Ace nodded in agreement; it was a good plan.

The stall owner eyed them as they approach but happily accepted them when they held out some money.

"two boxes of skewers, please." Sabo asked.

The two boxes were on the counter in seconds, each skewer still hot from the burner, they had just come off the heat. Sabo handed the man the right amount of money and left, giving a box to Luffy and a Box to ace. Both boys opened them and started eating readily, they were very good. Sabo pinched one out of Ace's box and nibbled on it as they walked to the outer edges of the village and into the small woods.

The trio had come here for two reasons, for adventure to distract Luffy and for a secluded place for Ace to spread his wings. There weren't enough trees to provide cover for Luffy to change forms, he was just too big, but there was enough for aces wings.

They found a river and a small gully with a large stream, almost a small river, with enough shade from an adjacent cliff face and surrounding trees that Sabo could take off his thick cloak without having to worry about adding to his collection of burns.

The surrounding trees provided enough cover for Ace to feel safe, his wings spread out from his back in a flurry of feathers, most of them white and fluffy but some of them were a light red. His baby feathers were starting to fall off and he was molting. Ace stretched his wings as high as he could get them to go, then off to the sides and repeated the process, happy when they stopped aching from under use and staying still for too long. He sighed happily and sat down on a rock, slowly moving his wings back and forth to get the muscles working, he had his eyes closed and a small content smile on his lips, it felt so good to have them out.

They had been on Shanks' ship for a little over a week, so it was understandable that ace's wings, and by proxy, his back really hurt with the strain of keeping them contained. The next part of the trip was a little over two weeks, so the trio had to decide now if they should tell the crew about the wings or risk permanently damaging Ace's wings in keeping them contained, as well as trying to hide the pain it causes him.

While he was doing this, Sabo and Luffy had changed out of their clothes and jumped into the gully, it was deep enough in spots that they had to tread water to stay above the water and shallow enough in other spots that they could just stand normally. Luffy was holding onto Sabo's hands and was slowly kicking his legs in an attempt to swim while Sabo swam backwards, dragging Luffy with him to help teach him.

"yeah, that's it Luffy. Kick your legs more but keep your body flat so you don't sink." Sabo encouraged, pulling Luffy with him as he slowly learns to swim better. It was very slow progress.

Luffy stuck his tongue out in concentration, nodding to Sabo and almost falling sideways and sinking, luckily, Sabo caught him and get him back to kicking his legs. The two went around and around in circles in the small pool for what felt like an hour but was only about twenty minutes when Ace jumped into the stream with them, creating a big splash.

Luffy fell out of his rhythm and started sinking, but Sabo caught him and held him above the water's surface and Ace popped up next to them.

"god, the water's so nice." He said, sinking his head under the water so only the top half was dry.

"I know, it's great for this small island. It's a shame that it doesn't have any crocodiles, those are yummy." Sabo said, holding luffy close to him as the younger tried to tread water. He was slightly better at this then swimming, but not by much.

Ace hummed, swimming away from the pair, using his wings to propel him thought the water. This was mostly so they got used to pulling his weight and to give them a lazy wash, he would clean them better later, but for now, this will do. He knew he wouldn't be able to fly for a while, but he knew better them anyone that even If he did have the right feathers to produce enough lift to get him off the ground, he still won't be able to fly if his wing muscles are weak and useless. Training them whenever possible is one of the most important things he needs to do at this point in time. Later, he would try to figure out how to actually fly.

After a while of relaxing like this, Ace swam back to his younger brothers. He dragged them to a shallower bit of the stream to clean off completely. Luffy sat patiently as Sabo ran his hands though his hair, they had given him a toy boat to play with. Ace swung his wings around; he was happy to see that the water repellent film over his feathers protected them from getting waterlogged was still holding up fine. He started running his hands thought the feathers, pulling the loose ones free and straightening the ruffled ones.

While they were doing this, Sabo brought up the conversation they needed to have, but none of them wanted to talk about. "so, decisions. Do we tell Shanks, Mihawk and the others about us?"

"no." was Ace's immediate reply.

"yes." Was Luffy's.

Both of the older boys looked at Luffy. "why do you think that, Luffy." Sabo asked.

Luffy bit his bottom lip as he played with the toy boat. "well, shanks saved my life, and I feel as if I owe them at least that. and they already know you're a Vampire, Sabo, and they don't hate you. Hawky's a Vampire too, and he doesn't hate us, and none of them hate him. And when Shanks and Hawky talked before, Hawky said that he already thought we might not be human. And they both didn't seem to care much, in fact, they were more worried about us. So, I don't think they will hate us for being ourselves." He said.

Both other boys sighed. What Luffy said was true, they didn't seem to care much no matter what they are, Mihawk proved that for them by openly stating he was a Vampire and none of the Red-hair crew seeming to care. And when the two pirates talked, they seriously didn't sound like it was a big deal, more like it was a passing thought that didn't matter much but would be nice to know. They wanted to tell them, the really did, but they were scared. Not that anyone of them would admit to it. Luffy was scared because the last people he told, other than his brothers and the bandits, had instantly tried to kill him, not even caring that he was still a little kid and couldn't even control most of his powers.

Ace was scared because every person who has ever found out, excluding his brothers and the bandits - but they were blackmailed into it so he doesn't believe they count, - had tried to kill or sell him as a slave, and don't forget the people who tried to steal his wings for a profit or the legend of the angle wings. Which isn't true by the way. The legend of the angles wings is the myth that Fae with white wings have the ability to heal others with fatal wounds with the touch of a single feather. It was made up by some rich hunter so he could sell Fae wings on the black market for millions of Beli, and the plan worked too, even if the mythological healing feathers never did.

In fact, the white wings are just the baby feathers of children Fae which haven't grown their own colours yet. So, all the people who hunted down the so called 'Angle Wings' where all hunting children who couldn't even defend themselves while killing all the adults that got in their way because the colour of their wings was wrong.

Sadly, even when the myth was proven a fake, people worldwide still believed it, declaring that the they only wanted them to think that it was fake so they could horde all the healing feathers to themselves. And because of this, Ace was probably the last Fae alive.

So, he did have a good reason for refusing to tell the pirates.

Sabo hummed, "well, they didn't seem like they cared much about what I was, in fact, they are helping me try and get used to it. Mihawk's been teaching me pretty much everything I need to know about being a Vampire, while not pushing me to do anything I'm not comfortable with. He has been trying to get me to eat some blood from the infirmary, but I don't want to, not after _that_. And that's really only because he said that if I don't eat within a month, I could end up killing myself, which I also don't want. He has been helping, they all have, and it's nice to know I'm not the only one out there, but sometimes I wish I wasn't what I am. I know it probably won't be as bad as it seems once I get used to it, but I do wish I could go back to the way I was before." Sabo sighed, unknotting some of Luffy's dreadlocks. "I know it's okay, and I know they're all helping, but every time I try to drink blood, even if it's from a bag, I get stupid flashbacks to that day and I… I just can't." He confesses.

Ace rubs a comforting hand over Sabo's back, "don't worry, we understand. We're here for you. You don't have to do what you don't want to, but at least your trying." He said.

Sabo takes a shaky breath to calm himself. "I know that, and I know it will all be fine in the end, which is why I've been trying so hard. And Mihawk does understand, he does help and never pushes me into doing anything, but I still wish I wasn't so damn afraid of what I am." He closes his eyes and sighs before pulling Luffy backwards into his chest. Luffy drops the boat an lets it float away and he hugs Sabo back, giving as much comfort as he could to his older brother. Ace pulls them both into a side hug, wrapping the wing he just finished cleaning around the two.

When Sabo calmed down, Ace let go so he could finish cleaning his other wing, but kept the clean wing wrapped around his brothers. Sabo eventually went back to cleaning Luffy's hair, soaking up the warm and comfort his brothers provided. Luffy eventually got his boat back and continued playing with it.

After a while he began to speak again, "honestly, I think we should tell them. They've been so helpful to me, so I believe they would help you two as well, and maybe answer some of the questions we have." Sabo hummed in thought, "but my main reason would be you, Ace."

"me?"

"yep." Sabo said, "the next part of the journey home is going to be around two weeks long, way too long for you to have your wings tied down. Heck, you barely survived these last nine days. If we tell them, then we don't have to risk permanently damaging your wings while trying to hide them from the pirates. Luffy can go for an entire month before he has to change forms, so can easily hide it until we get to his home island. And if they reacted well to your wings, I believe we should tell them about Luffy as well. Especially if we take them to your horde, Luffy. They will probably be able to piece it all together then and figure it out on their own if we do." Sabo said, finally finishing with Luffy's hair and moving to start on Ace's as Luffy climbed into the freckled boys lap. Ace just continued cleaning his wing, not minding in the slightest. "so yeah, I don't think it's a bad thing if we told them. Especially when they have already proven to us that they are trustworthy. I still can't believe Shanks gave his arm away for Luffy, not that I wouldn't have done the same, but still, we've only known the guy for a little more than a week, he wouldn't have don't that, especially not willingly, if he didn't care."

Ace sighed, thinking about everything his brothers have said, they did bring up some good points, and it's not like he doesn't agree with them, he just doesn't want to tell the pirates because of past experiences. It's not like he has a good reason against them or anything, he just doesn't think he could deal with it if they hated him like everyone else. They seemed good, and he hoped it wasn't just an appearance that would change as soon as they came out with the truth, but there was no way to tell other than to just go straight into the deep end and tell them outright.

Ace nodded to himself, sealing his resolve before he changed his mind, "we should do it." He said simply, the other two boys nodded, but none of them were smiling, they were taunt and agitated, hoping for the best to come out of this and not the worst.

Before they got back to the ship, they decided that they would tell them at dinner, that way they still had a way to escape them if things turned sour.

Then they got out of the stream, dried themselves off and started eating the amazing Bento Boxes Lucky Roo made for them.

* * *

The boys got back before nightfall, about an hour before dinner. None of the crew member had seen hide nor hair of them since they got back on. Shanks could tell they looked nervous about something and he hoped nothing happened on the island, he liked the little town quite a lot, thought that's only because they make this amazing alcohol, which he still isn't allowed drink, and would hate for the boys to dislike it because one of the villagers were mean or rude or something. He hoped things went well, but there was no way he could ask them until they came out of their room.

Shanks got slightly worried when dinner started and the boys were nowhere to be seen, there were usually the first to show up.

"hey Cap, where are the boys?" Lucky Roo asked as he placed two large plates and a normal one down on the table, they were for the boys. "they're normally here by now."

Shanks frowned in confusion; something must be wrong if they were late for dinner. "I'll go check on them." He started to rise out of his seat, but was interrupted when the three brats appeared at the door. They quickly took their seats at the table and started digging in. at first, Shanks assumed everything was fine, but grew a little suspicious when Sabo kept elbowing Ace and none of them were stealing from the other's plates. Something was definitely wrong. Ace whispered something that he didn't catch, but when Sabo replied, he did hear it.

"just do it, before you change your mind." Sabo whispered back, just barely audible over all the talking and noises going on in the room.

Ace grumbled but quickly shoved the rest of his food on his plate into his mouth before turning to face Shanks.

The Captain raised an eyebrow at this, very confused on what's going on. Mihawk shared his confusion from across the table, he had obviously heard all the whispered conversation and it clearly confused him more, if the furrow in his brow was any clue.

Ace just sat there for a few minutes, doing nothing until Sabo elbowed him again to get him to do something. Ace bit his bottom lip before looking at shanks.

"hey, um, shanks…" he took a steadying breath, refusing to make eye contact with him. "what's your opinion of the Fae?" he said, fidgeting with his hands.

Shanks shared a glance with Mihawk, at least he wasn't alone in his confusion, but he will answer the question truthfully. "the Fae are just like everyone else to me, a normal person. I treat everyone the same and the Fae would be no exception. Honestly, I don't see the point in other people's feelings towards them, it's like the fishmen, they are hated for something they can't control or have any power over. Ask anyone here and they would agree with me, the Fae didn't do anything wrong, they just existed, no one should be hated just for existing." He said truthfully.

All the tension and what looks like all their nerves fell away and the three boys relaxed. Ace bit his lip again. "…okay."

What happened next was completely surprising, but not entirely unexpected. Two large light red and white wings sprouted from Ace's back, spreading out behind him without hitting anyone on the tables behind him. Shanks noted that they were well looked after and cleaned thoroughly. He could see that Ace was starting to molt and was losing his first set of Baby feathers to be replaced with his teen set, not good enough to fly with but gliding would be possible soon. It was obvious that he cared deeply for his wings.

The surrounding pirates had stopped eating and silence filled the room as they gazed upon the magnificent wings. But soon enough, most of them went back to eating, the wings were cool, they will admit, but they didn't want to scare the kid away by staring. Ace slowly brought his wings back, letting them fold up on his back. he let them stay there, against his instinct that told him to hide them away from everyone.

Shanks looked down at boys, Ace was fidgeting nervously with his hands again, refusing to look anywhere but his feet. Sabo was watching the crowd of pirates to see if any of them stood up to make a move against them, and Luffy was watching him. Luffy was staring at his with a dead serious look, staring directly into his eyes, as if he was looking through him and into his soul. The stare was slightly disconcerting coming from the small boy, but at the same time it didn't seem out of place.

Shanks smiled; he knew exactly what to do. He placed a hand on Ace's shoulders, slightly concerned when he tensed up, and spoke.

"Ace, I just told you I don't care about any of that, none of us do. My opinion of you isn't going to change just because you've got a pair of beautiful wings." He grinned when Ace blushed at the comment, oh it was so fun playing with these boys. They couldn't take a proper compliment without blushing, it was hilarious.

Ace looked him in the eyes now, at least that was an improvement. "you sure?" he asked.

Shanks rolled his eyes, "yes."

Ace seemed to think about it for a moment before smiling, a _real_ smile, and looking at Shanks happily, no longer nervous or scared or holding any sort of negative emotion. He looked completely at ease.

Lucky Roo came out with seconds and placed the two massive sized placed in front of the two raven haired boys, expertly ignoring the set of wings on Ace's back, he would find out the story behind that eventually, someone would tell him. He then took a seat at his usual table with his closer friends and started eating his own dinner. Ace and Luffy started eating again, no longer afraid.

When he looked, Shanks saw that Sabo was no longer watching his crew, seeing as they had all turned back to his own conversation, but Luffy was still watching him, it wasn't with the same seriousness as it had before, no, it was more like his normal happy and cheerful self. As their eyes met, Luffy's smile seemed to get bigger, before he turned away and committed his entire being into eating his delicious food.

Shanks looked over to Mihawk on the other side of the table, he was smirking to himself as he eyed the three boys with curiosity. When he met Mihawk's eyes, the Vampire tapped his nose, smiling knowingly.

The Captain furrowed his brows in concentration for a second before it clicked. His eyes opened widely as he looked between the boys and Mihawk, the Swordsman only smirked, nodding slowly. Three days ago, Mihawk said Ace smelled like a Fae and he was. But he also said Luffy smelt like a Dragon. Shanks looked at Luffy then at Mihawk and back at Luffy, eye wide in surprise.

He mouthed the word, 'seriously?' to the Swordsman, and he only smirked more.

Shanks shook his head in bemusement, of course Luffy wasn't human, the other two weren't.

His actions got the attention of the boys, Luffy had just finished eating and was trying to steal some of Ace's meal. It wasn't working. But Sabo was watching him with a raised eyebrow.

"what are you thinking about?" the blond asked, taking a bite of his meal.

That got Ace's attention, he still hadn't put his wings away as he liked having them out, and they didn't seem to care so he might as well. He looked at ease and at peace with what he was doing, but still seemed a bit cautious, like he was expecting the pirates to suddenly attack them in his subconsciousness. It was disconcerting to see that look on a child, but Shanks could tell it was born only from past experiences. It made him angry at the people who put it there. But he wouldn't be mad at Ace not trusting him entirely, it was obvious he was trying, and Shanks was happy with that.

"I was thinking, if you're a Fae, is your mother by any chance Portgas D. Rouge?" shanks asked, other than Luffy's secrets, he did have some other questions he would like answered, but not necessarily have to be answered.

Ace tensed up slightly, gaining a more guarded expression. "why do you ask?" he spoke with frayed indifference, trying to make it look like the question didn't matter at all.

All it did was answer his question. "no particular reason, she sailed on the previous crew I was with for a while, she even made the moron who was my Captain fall in love with her."

Luffy looked at him with starry eyes, "you sailed with a different crew?" he asked excitedly, "tell me stories!" me asked, or more like demanded.

Sabo finished his meal and put his plate in the middle of the table with the others to be collected, "manners, Luffy." He said.

Luffy didn't turn around to retort to his brother, just looked up at the Red Hair captain and reiterated, "tell me stories please!" he said, somehow making it sound just as demanding as before even with the added manners.

Shanks laughed but quickly finished his meal and started his story, he came to realize that the youngest boy openly loved stories about adventure while the other two would try to hide their interest in them while listening as closely as they can.

"well then, I might as well tell you that I sailed with the Pirate King, Gol D Roger." He introduced, noticing the 'tsk' Ace made as the boy turned away, not very interested in the story. "now unlike the world government propaganda and fake news, Captain was in fact, not a Savage. Calling him a moron would be closer to the truth, a very overprotective, caring, Moron who really loved his prank wars. He used to drag us into so much trouble until Rayleigh appeared out of nowhere to bail us out, thought we still got extra chores, at least we could drag Captain into doing it with us. But it was worth it, I can't remember how many Marine base we ended up covering in paint, there were a lot of them." Shanks said, earning a few laughs and giggles from the surrounding pirates and a laugh from Sabo and Luffy. Ace seemed to be contemplating something, and he was pretty sure he could make a good guess about what that was.

"there was this one time when Roger had some blue paint and…"

* * *

The stories continued well into the night, only ending because Luffy fell asleep in Sabo lap. The blond picked him up and said he would take him to their room. Ace stayed behind for a bit and waited for all the other pirates to leave before asking Shanks a question.

"hey, shanks…" he started, "was that true?" he didn't look up, only staring at a spot on the table as he ran his hand alone the wooden surface.

"I'm assuming this is about Roger?" Shanks said, when Ace nodded, he continued, "judging by your reaction before I'm going to say I was right with my guess. You're Roger's and Rouge's son, aren't you?" Ace bit his lip but nodded.

Shanks smiled, putting a comforting hand on Ace's shoulder. The boy looked up at him with hopeful and desperate eyes but didn't say a word. Shanks pulled him into a one-armed hug, not surprised in the slightest when Ace resisted slightly, but not enough for him to actually escape.

"whatever you have been told about Roger in the past is not true. He was a great man who cared about his crew above all else. He would give anything up for the safety of the people he loved the most, and he did, multiple times. Even in his declining health, he risked his life so many times to save others, sometimes there weren't even apart of his crew. Yes, he was ruthless, but only to the people who hurt his family. He should be feared by his enemies, but his family loved him." He ran a comforting hand over Ace's shoulder, providing support as he slowly let his head rest on him.

"declining health?" Ace asked, of all the things that piped his curiosity, only that actually made him pause.

Shanks nodded sadly, "Captain had a terrible disease. It wasn't contagious, but it was slowly killing him. Each day it would get worse and worse, but he kept jumping up with a smile and enthusiasm with everything he did. That was why he handed himself into the marines, he was going to die later that month anyway, so he wanted to go down where the world could see him, standing proudly so no one could ever underestimate him again. He wanted the world to know not to mess with his family. Even in his last breath, he was still the caring idiot he ever was."

Ace was silent for a while, but Shanks could feel the slight rock in his shoulders and could tell he was crying. He took a shuddering breath to calm himself before asking, "d-does this mean… that I have a right to have been born?" he asked, he voice betraying him and making it obvious to shanks that he didn't believe it himself.

"of course, you do. Everyone does." Shank said, pulling the boy closer to himself, "if anyone ever tells you that ever again, tell me or Mihawk, we'll make sure they never bother you again. Roger was a good man, and he loved Rouge dearly. Your parents loved you and that would give their lives up all over again if it meant saving you. Don't ever doubt yourself."

For the remaining two weeks of the trip, it wasn't uncommon to see the boys asking Shanks to tell them stories about the pirate king. Ace listened intently, absorbing all the information he could about his father, wanting to know what to man was like, if nothing else.

He is proud to say, that he is happy with what he found.

* * *

"how much further?" Shanks asked as he followed Luffy through the forest. Sabo and Mihawk were behind him talking about something, probably something Sabo has been wondering for a while if the way he was animating his speech with hand gestures was any clue. Behind them were Ace and Ben, they seemed to be having a normal conversation about something, but the way they keep looking at him and giggling evilly sent alarm bells ringing in his head.

They reached the Barchiro isles an hour after dawn, the boat ride took longer than expected because of a stray storm, nothing they couldn't handle with ease, but it was enough to delay their trip by a bit. Not that it mattered much, they weren't on a serious deadline, more like guidelines. Though most of the crew had noticed that Luffy had started to get twitchier in the last few days. The Red-Haired Captain and the greatest swordsman had a few ideas about what that was about, but they wouldn't voice them until the boys were ready. Until then, they would just give them as much time and space as they need. It wasn't there business, and they didn't plan on imposing.

The six people set out for Luffy's home a few hours before lunch, planning to eat there and hopefully get back before dark. Luffy was quick to interrupt and state that it will probably take longer to get there. So instead, they planned for a two or three day trip, just in case. They had been walking for over seven hours, no one seemed even slightly tired, so no one stopped to take a break. When they asked the boys how they were used to this, they all stated that they grew up in a jungle, why wouldn't they be able to handle a small hike?

That had Shanks laughing with Ben smirking. They had already eaten lunch ages ago and Shanks was planning to go hunting for dinner, but Luffy cut him off.

"home is just over there." Luffy said as he stood on top of a hill clearing while pointing to an indistinguishable cave entrance hidden well into the surrounding cliff side and flora. The other five came over to check it out, it looked like a normal cave.

Ben was the first to ask as the other two adults had already figured it out, "why does Luffy live in a cave in the middle of nowhere?"

The three boys shared a glance before smiling, "that's because Luffy is a dragon." Sabo stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Ben blinked in surprise while Shanks and Mihawk just grinned. The first mate looked sceptically at the other pirates before shrugging, "that makes sense. Well then," he looked at Shanks and Mihawk, "how did you two find out?" he asked.

All three boys looked at the pirates with something between shock and surprise.

Mihawk answered, "I have a good nose, neither of them smelled like humans and it confused me. When Ace revealed his wings, my suspicions were confirmed, and I told Shanks."

"oh…" was all three boys dignified response.

"hhmmm," Mihawk hummed as he thought about something, "well, now that it's out in the open, I might as well ask; Luffy, does your horde have any sort of curse on it?"

"curse?" Asked Ace and Sabo, they had never heard of this before. "why would a dragon's horde be cursed?"

Shanks answered, "the more generations that lived on a specific horde creates a spell or curse over the treasure so no one else can touch it. The less generations or dragons, the weaker the curse. Most of them only have about 3 or 4 generations powering it, so the curse is only annoying things like continuous rain for months on end affecting your entire crew or permanently making your eyes red or something. But sometimes, very rarely, the curse is strong, and it could cause deaths. So, we have to be careful when entering a Dragon horde."

A shiver ran down the boy's back, "scary…" they both mumbled.

Luffy's mouth hung open as he thought, "ummmmm…" he scratched his head, "I think so?"

Mihawk looked at the boy, "what happens to the people who steal your horde?" after all, a dragon's curse will only activate if one steals their treasure.

Luffy grinned, "that's easy! Greedy people get lost in the cave systems and they starve to death! I don't really know why they get lost, it's not that hard to find my way home… maybe they don't have a sense of direction…" he said cheerfully, totally unconcerned by the fact that he stated death like a usually occurrence.

Mihawk sighed, "that would be the curse, and a very strong one at that. Do not touch the treasure unless you want to die of starvation." He warned the group.

"y-yep." Piped Ace and Sabo, trying to hide their shock at the realisation that Luffy has probably been around more human death than them both combined, and they lived near a savage trash heap with murderers and thieves at every corner. Luffy, however, lived alone in his cave and his treasure with the only human company he came across were greedy murderers and thieves seeking to steal him out of house and home. And then having them all end up dying because of a curse he was only a part of strengthening.

He didn't even know there was a curse until now. At least, they think so.

"wow! There's a curse on my horde!? That's so Cool!" Luffy cheered looking as if the sun itself lived inside of him. His smile was so bright it could have burn Sabo and Mihawk with its intensity, expect it wasn't to sun, so they were safe. "I wonder what it does." He wondered.

Shanks ruffled the young dragons head, "the curse on your treasure kills all the people who want to steal your treasure or harm you. The curse protects you."

Luffy looked at the Red Head in awe, "wow, you know so much…" he said softly.

Shanks grinned, "well obviously, I'm the amazing Shanks!"

Ben coughed, "massive ego." He whispered under his breath, causing the other boys to laugh while Shanks ignored him.

"well anyway, we will be relying on you to keep the curse from effecting us. We do need an Altef stone for Sabo and we don't want to get affected by the curse for that." Mihawk spoke.

Luffy grinned, "I can do that, uncle Hawky, I just have to give it to you, then you don't get lost because you didn't steal it."

Mihawk blinked, "do not call me 'uncle Hawky' again. My name is Mihawk, please use it, luffy." He said as Shanks and Ben burst into giggles, quickly joined by Ace and Sabo.

"aww, but I wanna call you uncle Hawky, cause your like an uncle… I think, I've never had an uncle before, can you be my uncle? Oh! And Shanks can be uncle shanks too! Then I would have two uncles! That's so cool!" Luffy used his secret weapon, puppy dog eyes.

i'm okay with this!" Shanks put in.

Not even the strongest swordsman in the world can resist that or long. Eventually, Mihawk looked away, muttering, "fine, you can, but _no one_ else." He said, just loud enough for everyone to hear. He crossed his arms in front of him to retain whatever dignity he had remaining.

Shanks burst out laughing, "Dahahahahaha! This is the first time I've see you get beaten in a staring match by a kid! Dahahahaha!"

Ben grinned. He had to admit that this scene was rather funny.

Luffy cheered, "yay! I have two uncles now!" he then jumped excitedly and ran ahead towards the cave entrance, his home. He waited for the others as a bubbling mass of excitement, he looked like he was ready to explode.

As soon as they got to the cave, Luffy guided them through many hallways and cave systems with openings and cracks everywhere. It was like a maze build right into the side of the mountain side.

"okay, I can see how people get lost in here. Does anyone remember the way out?" Ace asked as they turned yet another corner, following the happy dragon.

Four other people shook their head, they couldn't remember it, but Luffy nodded happily, he knew the way out, of course he did, he grew up here! The others sighed, accepting that if they didn't have Luffy with them, then they would probably get lost like the cursed people. Soon enough, Luffy stopped in front of a tall smooth wall, smiling in glee.

"um, luffy, are you lost?" Ace asked, not seeing any sort of large horde of treasure in the naturally lighted passageway.

Luffy giggled, walking up to the wall he put his hand on a certain spot, directly above an inconspicuous stone on the ground. He pressed lightly, and the stone moved inward. When Luffy's entire hand was in the stone, large but smooth cracks started forming in the previously flat wall.

Luffy stepped forward and the wall went with him, slowly swinging to the right on hinges they couldn't see. When the door was completely open, the room that was revealed was massive. There wasn't a single flat surface or an empty place of floor, everything was covered in the horde. The door opened to a ledge overlooking the room, there was a staircase off to their left that they could use to get down to the treasures, but for now, most of them were contempt to sit and stare.

The people who had never seen a Dragon Horde before were breath taken, there was so much stuff here, and not all of it was gold, as most would expect it to be. No, this horde was filled with all sorts of things. yes, there was a _lot_ of gold, gems and other random precious metals and ores, but there was also other things like well-designed wooden pieces of furniture, jewelry, a massive stack of pillows for some reason, and other random items most would classify as junk. They could even see a pipe on the top of one of the stacks of treasure.

"…wow…" was Sabo's only response at the sheer mass of treasure, they were not expecting this much gold, especially not from Luffy. Ace wasn't in much of a better condition.

Shanks whistled In awe, he has seen a dragon horde before, but it was nowhere near this amount, the other dragon horde he had seen could have easily fit in a room on his boat, so he was expecting an amount like that, if not smaller. But this, it was huge, the room was bigger than the bay they docked at. And he had a feeling that it was a lot deeper than they thought.

Mihawk looked at the gold, trying successfully to hide his own awe. Sure, he had stolen from a few dragons before, but that was before they get a proper curse working for them that affects him too badly. The worst, and most damaging, curse he has ever inflicted on himself from one of these hordes is a permanent change of his eye colour, making them a dead yellow - like a hawk. Like Sabo, his emotions used to show themselves in his eyes, but now they don't. he wouldn't say he was upset with this change, after all it helped him keep a better poker face, but it was still apart of him and having it removed from him by a curse is annoying. He would not steal from Luffy, the horde was too big, too well protected, even if Luffy left forever the curse would still be in place for a few centuries at least. And besides, he liked the kid, not that he would ever admit to it out loud, he didn't want to steal from him in the first place, there would be no point.

Ben looked at the gold with detached amazement, it was more gold then he had seen in his entire life, not that it was saying much, there was probably enough gold to rival the legendary One Piece. Not that he would know, he's never seen it before, but there was a lot.

Luffy was quite literally jumping in joy, barely being able to contain his excitement, it's been a while since he was here and even though he didn't regret being forced out of house and home by Garp, not after all the good things it brought him, he still missed the place a lot. This was where he was born and raised, where his mother died protecting him and where his ancestors lived. Dragons of the same family were all deeply connected, no matter how many years they are apart. Although, he is pretty sure that he was the last in the line for his family, who knows, if he runs into anyone from his family, he will know, but until then, they might as well not exist. Besides, he has his not-so-human and human family now.

Mihawk turned away from the gold at looked at the innocent luffy. "that's a lot of gold." He stated.

Luffy nodded, suddenly deciding that it would be a great time to take off his clothes, starting with the shirt. While Ace and Sabo knew exactly what he was planning to do, the adults however didn't. Luffy threw the shirt at Sabo who neatly folded it and put it in Ace's backpack, ready to catch the next item of clothing.

"um… luffy, why are you taking your clothes off?" Shanks asked as Luffy threw his shorts at the blonde. Again, they were neatly folded and put away.

Luffy opened his mouth to respond as he took his underwear off, but Ace cut him off. "it's a surprise, wait and see." He said, smirking to himself.

Luffy threw the last piece of clothing he was wearing at Sabo and jumped off the ledge, laughing the expressions of the older three pirates. On the way down he transformed himself into his more comfortable form, the long scaly body with keen eyes and flat ears. A long tail with whip-like flexibility, four feet with long hard claws ready to tare into anything. A small black nose that could easily beat a blood hound with its senses, and long sharp teeth capable of crushing crocodile skulls with little effort.

It was great to be in his real form for the first time in three and a half weeks, and it was even better to be home in his horde.

He landed in the gold and quickly dug his was deeper, disappearing into its mass. His scales felt alive and they brushed up against the precious metals. He could feel them getting stronger from the metals after a year of neglect. The best way to look after a Dragon's scales, is to let them sleep or rest in treasure. The metals in the treasure dig away at the soft velvet and grime that forms over time, and moves it away to reveal shinier, stronger, harder, tougher and spikier scales. Perfect condition for a dragon ready for battle.

It felt amazing. liberating, even.

Up on the ledge, Shanks, Mihawk and Ben were looking over the edge, there wasn't much of a railing other then a few rocks placed at the edge, trying to spot the young boy who just jumped off a high ledge into a cavern of treasure head first with no clothes on. Ace and Sabo were glancing around, a lot less worried, trying to spot a large red dragon. The boys had more success.

About twenty metres from where Luffy would have landed, a head popped up. Obviously not a human one, it has two rows of razor-sharp teeth and a long snout. Honestly, it was really cute, but only after they get over the fact that it's a dragon.

The Dragon head turned towards them and did its best attempt at a smile, though it did look rather cute like that it was still a bit scary. Luffy laughed at them, finding the adults expressions of shock absolutely hilarious – its not like they had expected the kid to jump off the ledge. Sabo put the last item of clothing in Ace's bag and sat on the edge of the ledge.

"oi, Luffy!" he called out, making it obvious to the adults that the dragon was, in fact, Luffy, "what do you want us to do? Say up here or help you search?"

Luffy tilted his head to the side as he thought, "**stay up there, it won't take me too long."** He called back.

The blonde nodded, "you got it." He sat down and took out a deck of cards, "who wants to play?"

Ace scratched his head as he looked at the sheer amount of stuff in the very large Cavern. "you sure you don't want help? That looks like it will take a lot longer than you think."

Shanks and Ben nodded in agreement, there was just too much to get though in any sort of short time. Luffy was looking for one of six small purple stones, that had to at least take a month, there was just no way he could sort though all that and find them quickly.

Luffy snorted, "**Na, it won't be long. Maybe an hour or two."** And with that, Luffy disappeared into the giant mass of shiny things.

"…seriously?" Shanks asked, gesturing to the gold, "he can find something in _that_?" when Sabo shrugged, the pirate captain continued, "_how_!?"

Sabo looked up from where he was shuffling his deck of cards, "no idea, probably never will. Luffy sucks at explaining and knows as much about dragons as we do. His mother died before she could teach him."

Mihawk and Ben finally took a seat with the blond, Ace joined them soon after but kept an eye on the gold in case Luffy comes back sooner then expected. Mihawk asked, "I've been meaning to ask about that. It's very rare to find a dragon infant, and he is still an infant in dragon years, without their parents, especially their mothers."

Ace sighed as he looked out over Luffy's home. "Luffy's mother was killed before we met him… we don't know what the hell even happened except that she gave her life for his. Not soon after, he met a Fae like me and they became friends. I think his name was Jerry or something. Doesn't matter, he got sick and Luffy took him to the village to heal him. Something happened and the villagers found out Jerry had wings and killed him before going after Luffy because he was friends with him. They found out he was a dragon and they called the Marines. Luckily, the shitty geezer was the closest Marine nearby and was called on to help. According to Luffy, the shitty geezer followed him here before basically kidnapping him. Next thing we know, we have a new kid living with us." Ace looked at the pirates, his eyes where dead serious and worried for the younger boy. He wanted to help but he didn't know how. "don't ask him about it. the one time I did, he broke down crying and practically begged me not to leave."

The adults nodded in understanding; they could do that. Besides, it wasn't there business, even if it worried them. Each of them picked up their cards, only half paying attention to the game. All of them where concerned for the young dragon and the future that lies ahead for him, but they couldn't help if he didn't reach out.

But they would try, nonetheless.

Halfway through the first game, Sabo perked up with a smile, "I've been wondering, do you guys know anything about dragons that could help? I know Shanks said he met one before so might know how we can help Luffy, but right now, we're winging it."

Mihawk smirked while Shanks smiled, laughing a bit as he placed down a card on the growing pile in the middle of the circle.

"I don't know how much help I could be, the dragon I met may have been a fire Dragon, and had some seriously wild control over her element, but I only know her for a short time. I haven't seen her for a good 13 years or so, but what I do remember was that she could beat my Captain in Poker any day. She robbed us blind with her wicked skills before leaving us to go raise an egg or something." Shanks said with a soft smile.

Sabo nodded, bringing out a journal he kept in Ace's backpack. He started jotting down everything he deemed important. "well, we didn't even know he could control fire." He stated.

Ace rubbed the back of his neck, "man, that would have helped so much in the Grey Terminal Fire." Sabo hummed in agreement.

The adults didn't ask.

Mihawk placed a few cards on the deck before picking up two more, "I believe I might be more helpful then Shanks in this regard, I've met quite a few dragons in my time." He hummed, "lets see, Fire dragons are highly allergic to Kurma Berries, which are from an island in South Blue, I believe."

Ace placed a card down, "we knew about that one."

The Swordsman nodded, "good, its very important. I've seen a giant and powerful dragon beaten by a single berry in less then ten minutes. Make sure Luffy stays well away from them. Hmmm, their scales are the second strongest in the dragon race if looked after well."

"how do you look after scales?" Ace asked quickly, they knew about the scale's strength but had no idea they could lose that strength if neglected. Knowing Luffy, he probably neglected them or didn't know.

Mihawk nodded, it was a good question, "its actually rather simple. His scales grow stronger if the velvet and grime if scratched off."

Sabo scratched his chin, "so… lots of bath time?"

Mihawk smirked, "no, even easier. Just let him sleep surrounded by gold or other metal things, like this horde for example, but it doesn't need to be this much. I believe you have enough things in your treasury for Luffy to be fine?" he aimed the last question at Shanks.

The red head nodded, "yeah, I think so."

"so, it doesn't need to be a lot, but just let him sleep or rest periodically around metal things and it will happen naturally. About once a week or so would be very healthy."

Ace bit his lip, only realising now that Luffy has gone about a year without doing that. Well, that explains why his scales were getting softer. Hopefully that fixes itself before it becomes too bad.

Sabo wrote that down, "anything else?"

Ben added a card to the pile and picked up two more.

Mihawk answered, "probably the most important thing I could mention at this point, but Dragons, of any species, are very emotionally unstable at young ages." He raised a hand to stop Ace and Sabo's questions, "this doesn't mean they have huge mood swings or are indecisive over their emotions or choices, in fact it's quite different then you would imagine. I'm sure you've heard of that dragons don't leave their parents until they're 25-year-olds, correct?"

The two boys nodded, paying close attention to the answer. This has been puzzling them for ages now and no matter where they look, there is never any answers.

"well, this is strongly tied to their emotional instability." Mihawk explained, "dragon infants can't survive without their parents because it would cause too much stress that the dragon can't handle. The only other dragon infant that I know of, and no, I didn't meet her, had died of starvation after refusing to eat when her parent died. She had slowly killed herself, refusing to eat or drink or do any of the necessary things she needed to do. She died in her sleep after months of this self-induced torture." The two boys sucked in a deep breath; they were obviously not very excited about this news. It scared them, that their younger brother could be driven to kill himself by just being alone.

They would never let that happen to him, how could they? They were his big brothers and it was their job to look after him, no matter what. And if that meant force feeding him food if he ever decided not to eat, then they would do it.

Mihawk continued, "this also applies to any other close relation they make in those first 25 years of their life, but normally it doesn't matter as much since their parents will still be there for them. In Luffy's case, he lost his mother, never knew his father, as far as we know, had a friend killed not long after his mother died, before being kidnapped by a stranger to be dropped off in an unfamiliar place. Am I wrong?"

Ace and Sabo shook their heads, everyone had stopped playing the game to listen to this important piece of information that could be a life or death situation in the future. It was distressing, but they would do whatever they could to prevent it.

"I cannot stress how important it is that you two stay alive _no matter what_, if you want Luffy to survive. You two have the closest relationship with him as of this point in time, if he loses you two as well, that will probably be it."

Shanks looked slightly sad at the idea that the boys might not live long enough for Luffy's mid-twenties, but he knew in this world, it wasn't impossible. Especially not when all three boys were different form the rest of the population.

The boys looked at Mihawk with determined eyes, "we promised on everything that exists, nothing will _ever_ happen to luffy."

The Swordsman stared them down before cracking a grin and ruffling both boy's hair, getting a few annoyed sounds out of it, "it's good to see the boy has such reliable brothers to look up too."

They pouted but didn't say anything against it. After all, they were always aiming to be reliable and strong big brothers Luffy could always come to at any time. And no, it certainly wasn't because they had brother complexes. Defiantly not.

As they resumed the game, Mihawk sighed, "but, other then those things, there isn't much that I could tell you. There will probably be something I didn't know, in which case, you will have to wing it, but hopefully it all comes out well in the end. Oh, but I do know something about the Fae you may we very interested in." he perked up, placing a card down without picking a new one up.

Ace perked up, looking at the Swordsman with interest, "yeah?"

Mihawk nodded, "their life spans are closely tied to the condition of their wings. If Ace looks after his wings, he can pretty much life forever. Though, that would be very difficult to achieve… anyway, you can also heal faster if your wings are cared for as well as fight off diseases better. But on the flip side, if your wings get cut off, you will die, Ace. There is no questioning that or avoiding it. The same will happen if you don't look after them for too long, you could end up killing yourself by accident."

Ace blinked, "...Damn, that is important. Thanks for telling me."

Sabo gasped, everyone looked at him weirdly.

"what?" Ben asks for them all.

Sabo pointed at Ace, waving his arms around while opening and closing his mouth in surprise. He reminded them of a goldfish.

"he can use _manners_!" Sabo stressed as if it was the most important thing in the world.

Ace gaped before whacking his brother on top of his head, like he would normally do when Luffy was being too much of an idiot. "of course, I can, it's not that hard." He grumbles.

Sabo bursts out laughing, he rolled around on the ground kicking his legs and holding his stomach as he laughed his head off. Soon enough, they were all joining in, some more them others.

After a while they eventually regained their self-control and got back to their game.

* * *

It was an hour and a half later when Luffy returned.

"**hey guys!"** the dragon called as he climbed the small staircase to the right of the ledge they were staying on. **"I'm back." **he smiled.

He was carrying a small chest filled with things he found, he got gifts.

"hi Luffy!" Ace called with a smile of his own as he placed his card face down on the ground, Sabo wasn't far behind him.

When the dragon got to the top of the staircase, both boys jumped into a hug, not even caring that they both were tiny in comparison to the growing Dragon, he was a bit taller than the adults.

Shanks smiled at his return and scratched him behind the neck, earning a limp dragon head in his lap and a demand to continue. Ace quickly asked how he did it, Shanks showed him, much to the dragon's pleasure.

Mihawk patted the dragons head while Ben smiled at the kid.

"so, what do you have here?" Sabo asked as he poked the chest in Luffy's arms.

Luffy lifted his head to face Sabo, **"stuff."** He said with a cheeky voice, in his human form he would be grinning. Luffy stood up and changed forms, Ace took out his clothes and gave them to the boy before Luffy continued.

Luffy giggled to himself as he turned the chest away from them, "it's a surprise." He said as he opened the chest and grabbed something. "starting off with these. I found all six of them, it wasn't that hard, but I don't know if they were good or not."

Luffy gave six Altef stones to Mihawk, two of them were already made into a ring while one was a necklace, the other three were in their raw state, small smooth stones without anything being done to them. Mihawk inspected each of them, they were all perfect in every way, it was amazing to see. He had never seen so many in his life and especially not together like this.

"you really did have six..." Mihwak mumbled to himself. Picking out one of the rings, Mihawk gave it to Sabo before handing the stones back to luffy. The dragon smiled before putting them back in his chest.

"so, what else do you have there, I don't think that chest was truly necessary if all it was holding was those precious stones." Shanks joked.

Luffy smiled at him. "nope! I got stuff in here… what should I start with… hmmm." Luffy though before taking out a pipe with a blueish tint.

They were _not_ going to ask how that fit in the small chest, especially when it was twice as long as said box.

Luffy gave the Pipe to Sabo, "It's made out of this Seastone stuff so it wont break and it works on those people with the weird abilities too." Luffy said with a smile.

Shanks scratched his cheek in confusion, "where the hell did you get a seastone _pipe_? I didn't think anyone was silly enough to make something like that, out of _that._"

Luffy shrugged, "I just found it in the pile of cool stuff. I think my grandma liked collecting odd things, Like that chair over there." He gestured to an upside-down chair at the top of a pile of gold, it was well crafted and long lasting. The others just nodded, deciding not to ask.

The dragon smiled again, grabbing out a small earring in the shape of a sword. "anyway, I saw this and decided that I'm ganna give it to you now, Uncle Hawky." He gave the older Vampire the small earring. "it made out stuff that doesn't break even when under lots and lots of pressure, I tried." Luffy huffed, "I broke Seastone after a bit of effort, but I couldn't break this stuff, it was annoying. Stupid unbreakable stuff, ruining all my fun." he pouted.

Mihawk raised an eyebrow at the kid's rant, but took the small, practically tiny, knife. he inspected the sword, even if it was minuscule, it was about as long as his pinkie finger with a dead straight and very sharp edge, if it was larger it would have been better then Yoru, but he would never trade her for anything. the hilt was simple with very little design but did have a small red gem in it, smaller then the tip of his finger nail. The hilt had an earring extension piece so it could be worn easily without having to worry if it got lost.

He raised an eyebrow at it again, "its very well made… but why is it so small?"

Luffy laughed, "I don't know, I just saw it so now it's yours." He said, covering his mouth with his hands to muffle his laughter.

Mihawk turned to Shanks, "you know what, I will have that battle you offered."

Shanks gapes at him before pouting, "this is only because you got a new tiny sword, isn't it?"

Mihawk grinned, "well, since I got a new sword, I might as well use it. Luffy, do you know the name of this blade."

Luffy nodded, "Chīsana Chikara, it means 'Small force' if I remember correctly. I think the forger made Chīsana Chikara after someone challenged him to a dual who relied too much on his huge sword. The forger won." He had a huge grin on his face.

Mihawk grinned at the dragon, "well, thank you for this Luffy, I appreciate it." He took the small sword out of its sheath and stabbed it through his ear, wiping away the small amount of blood on his ear and the blade with his sleeve before piercing it with the hilt attachment and putting Chīsana Chikara away. It fit comfortably there.

Luffy grabbed the next thing in his box of goodies. It was a red fruit with strange swirls that remind them of flames. "mum said I shouldn't eat this, so I didn't. I wanna know what it is though. Do you guys know?"

Ben held out his hand for it and Luffy handed it over with a smile. The first mate eyed the fruit, comparing it with the fruits he could remember from the Devil Fruit encyclopedia. "it's a Devil Fruit."

Ace tilted his head to the side, "what's that?"

Ben answered without taking his eyes off the fruit, "A Devil Fruit gives the first person who eats it a power in exchange for their ability to swim. For example, the fruit could turn you into an element and you would have full control over it. But you would sink like an anchor. There are three types of Devil Fruits; Logia, which gives the ability of an element, Zone, which allows the user to change into an animal, and Paramecia, which is everything else."

Ace nodded. "which one do you think that is?"

Ben gave the Devil Fruit back to Luffy, "I believe it is the Meri Meri No Mi, it is a Logia that gives the user the ability of a fire. It is a very strong fruit if used correctly."

Luffy had his mouth open in awe, "ahhh, so that's what it is." He then walked over to Ace, "here you go, it's yours now." He stated before walking back to the chest.

"w-what?" Ace stammered as he held the fruit in his hands, "why do I get it?" he asked dumbly. It wasn't as if he didn't want it, in fact he was really interested in it. The power over flames does seem intriguing. He has always loved flames, even after the Terminal Fire, and wouldn't mind having it. He just felt a tiny bit guilty by taking it from Luffy's collection.

The dragon smiled, "because I gave it to you. And you looked like you wanted it." Luffy smiled at his brother.

"o-oh…" Ace couldn't say anything against it, it was the truth. "well then… can I eat it?"

Luffy shrugged, "sure, it's yours now."

Ace nodded before eyeing the fruit. He took a deep breath before chucking it down his throat, almost throwing it up again from the terrible taste. But he somehow managed to swallow it with a disgusted look on his face. It tasted putrid.

"ewww, it tastes horrible…" he complained, trying to brush the aftertaste away with his fingernails. When he was done with that, or as much as he thought he could get, he said, "well, I don't feel any different. How long does it take before I become fire?"

Sabo chuckled, "um, Ace, your arms on fire."

"no, it's n-! ah! My arms on fire! Quick, put it out!" Ace yelled, patting his burning arm with the arm that's not on fire. This didn't seem to work as the fire just spread to his other arm. And that was when he noticed, "huh… it's not hot." After calming down he waved his arms through the air to watch the flames dance around, crackling and golden. It was beautiful. After a while, the arm when back to normal. "neat." He said with a shit eating grin on his face.

Luffy smiled at his brother before grabbing the next thing in the box, "this is what Ace was supposed to get." He held up a cowboy hat and a set of beads. "I don't know if you'll like it, but it looked like it would suit you." Luffy bit his lip and looked at the ground as he passed the items over to the other raven.

Ace gaped at the cowboy hat, whispering just audible to the surrounding pirates, "it's perfect." Before anyone could blink, the hat was on his head and the beads where around his neck. Luffy was right, they did suit him. Ace looked amazing with the bright orange hat, even if they were sure he was the only person in the world who could successfully pull that off.

Luffy smiled happily. The next item out of his box of goodies was a crate of bottles. They really were _not_ going to ask how all this fit in there. He handed the crate of 9 bottles over to Shanks.

"you said you like alcohol, so here you go. I have more of it somewhere, but I think mum hid most of it from me." He said with a sheepish grin.

Shanks nodded, placing it on the ground so he could take one bottle out to read the label. "holy shit! This stuff is legendary! I never go to have a taste of it when the guy who made it was alive, and he never passed on the secret. My Captain once stated it was the best stuff he has ever had in his life!" Shanks put the bottle down and brought Luffy into a one-armed hug, "thanks Luffy, this is the best!"

Luffy giggled but hugged back anyway. The next thing he grabbed was a pair of replacement goggles for Sabo as his last ones were cracked and breaking with a million repairs done to the strap. Sabo smiled and accepted, "thank you."

The last item Luffy took out was a pineapple, a completely ordinary pineapple. Luffy laughed as he gave it Ben, "I found this in the garden. So, you can have it." Ben laughed at it but took it anyway, it wasn't like pineapples were his favourite fruit or anything, and it definitely wasn't like Luffy knew this or anything. nope, not at all...

"thanks Luffy, I can cut it up later for us to eat." Luffy grinned before going back to his chest and looking inside. There was only one item left, but that wasn't for anyone there. He took it out, it was a red ankle bracelet with four different coloured gems, a diamond, a ruby, an amethyst, and a sapphire. Between each gem was a deep red scale, his mothers.

It was made for him, it was suppose to be a gift when he turned ten, but his mother gave it to him early so he would never forget her, it was one of the only reasons he had never given up on life. At first, he couldn't be anywhere near it, it reminded him too much of his mother, but after being taken away by Garp, he realised that he wanted to keep it as close as he could. He missed the last remnant of his mother deeply.

He held it close to his chest before letting large tears spill from his eyes, the watching people were quick to act on it, moving closer to comfort the distressed and sad Dragon in his grief. He could hear them asking him what was wrong as he held the jewellery in his grip, but he couldn't bring himself to answer over the sobs that escaped him. His brothers got on either side of him and brought him into a hug, Shanks pulled all of them closer to him in a one armed hug, holding them close to his chest, Mihawk and Ben stood nearby with a hand on the youngest brat's shoulder, showing their support in the best way they knew how.

He was happy to have such a caring family. His sobs broke into full out crying, mourning the loss of his Mother and celebrating everything he has had since then. Hopefully, even in death, his Mother was still watching over him. Still watching out for him and protecting him.

Still loved him.

* * *

It's been a few months since then.

The Red Haired Pirates had too leave now, less they draw too much attention to the island, but promised to visit whenever they were in the area. Mihawk could get away with doing whatever he wanted without drawing too much attention to himself, so has decided to stay for the next year to train Sabo, who had finally started drinking blood, and teach all three boys in the art of Haki and better fighting styles. Though not necessarily Sword skills. Although, he was planning on teaching each boy enough that they could confidently hold a blade in battle, but he already knew none of them wanted to be Swordsmen. He wouldn't force them to, it wasn't his place.

"do you have to go." Pouted Luffy as the pirate crew got ready to leave the bay they had stopped in. they had been convinced by Luffy not to go anywhere near the village, so they were currently docked in a secured bay they found on the other side of the island.

Shanks crouched down in front of the boy, "don't worry, you'll still have Mihawk and your brothers here. And I promise we'll come and visit. You won't be lonely here." Luffy nodded at the captain. "besides, you told me you were going to be a pirate, right."

Luffy thought for a second before shaking his head.

"no?" Shanks asked, honestly surprised.

Luffy smiled, "nope! I'm going to be the king of the Pirates!"

Shanks raised an eyebrow, "but your so short." Argued Shanks.

A tick mark formed on his head, "hey! I'll grow! I'm going to be taller than you, even in this form!" Luffy declared, making Shanks and the surrounding pirates laughed.

"good luck with that little luffy, you've still got a fair way to go." One of the nearby pirates called out.

Luffy huffed and pouted, kicking the sand beneath his feet. "I'll be tall soon, just you wait." He said softly.

Shanks ruffled the boy's hair, "so, Pirate king, huh?" Luffy nodded, regaining his grin from before.

"yeah! I'm ganna be stronger than you and I'll make a crew better than yours!" he declared, sticking his tongue out childishly.

Shanks laughed loudly, making the dragon glare. When the red head calmed down, he took off his hat and looked at it. "well, if your going to be pirate king, you'll need a crown."

And without further ado, Shanks placed his most precious item he had with him on the head of Luffy. The boy reached a hand up to touch it, he had once tried to steal it off the captain, but he had told him not to touch it as it was his most important treasure. He hesitantly touched it, proving to himself that it was real, before pulling it over his head.

"this is my most important treasure in the whole wide world. So, it seems only fitting to be your crown. Someday, when you start your own crew, come find me. Then you can prove to me that your crew is better. Until then, look after this and look forward to our future visits, okay?"

Tears were streaming down Luffy's face as he looked up to his idol.

"r-right." He stammered, holding the hat tighter over his head.

Shanks smiled as he walked away from the kid. Walking on deck, he called out, "boy's! set sail!" a cheer sounded out from the rest of the crew and the boat was quickly put into action. It left the bay and disappeared over the horizon in a matter of hours, but Luffy stood there watching the entire time.

The sun was setting when his brothers approached him, "come on, Luffy, lets go get dinner. Then we can Race to Mihawk's hut." Ace said.

Luffy turned around, his tears had long since dried up and he was feeling a lot better the before, but he still held onto the straw hat with a red ribbon like it was a lifeline. "yeah, lets do that!" he smiled, following his brothers into the woods.

Life was looking much better now.

* * *

**Omake**

Luffy looked at his massive collection of gold, there was something just not right about it. But what? He looked around, was something missing? Did someone steal something? No, that couldn't be it, no one was dead yet… was something in the wrong place? Hmmm, that seemed right.

But what? Everything looks like it's in the right spot. What could be wrong?

Maybe his brothers knew, they always know everything. Yeah, lets go ask them.

Luffy ran out of the cave, using the quicker entrance this time instead of the one that lead to the ledge he first took them all to.

Spotting his brothers, he ran towards them. As soon as he got closer, though, he knew exactly what was wrong with his treasure horde. Luffy scrunched his face up in thought, now, where to put them?

Luffy grabbed his brother's hands without warning, dragging them along with him to his treasure horde. He ignored their questions about what was wrong and confusedly followed him into his treasure trove. Once there, Luffy let go, still ignoring them, and scratched his head.

He grabbed Ace by the hand and sat him down on the pile of gold, before quickly turning around and grabbing Sabo's hand before he could escape. Placing him down next to the oldest, Luffy climbed in between them, snuggling into them and slowly falling asleep. Seeing what he was doing, he brother's shrugged, giving up their arguments and protests and snuggled into their younger brother.

They all fell asleep on the pile of gold, snuggling into each other for warmth.

Luffy wants to sleep with his treasures, all of them, and it just didn't feel right if something was missing.

* * *

A wile later, Mihawk came looking for them, it wasn't like them to be late for their lessons. After a few minutes of searching, he found them sleeping surrounding by the horde. Mihawk cracked a small grin and rolled his eyes.

Finding a nearby blanket, he threw it over the three boys, it wouldn't do for them to get cold now.

After that, he left to go finish his book. they could miss lessons today, it's not like they were in a hurry.

* * *

**Yay! Finally finished! Why the hell did I say this was going to be the last of the childhood arc? **

_**For luffy's treasure horde, think Smaug's gold from the lord of the rings, then double it… yes, I made luffy super rich. ahahahahahaaa!**_

**I should have made it two separate chapters…. *sigh* whatever, it's finished now. **

**Anyway, that's that bit done, now to get on with the main story (and yes, these last six chapters had seriously just been the prologue, not even the main story yet) so look forward to that. Entrance of the Whitebeard Pirates next chapter, yay!**

***sigh* I need to do something with my life… oh well, not that I'm complaining.**

**See you next chapter, Favorite, Follow, Review. Do whatever, I appreciate it. **


	7. Thief

**Hi guys! Hope you like this chapter.**

**But before we get into that, someone asked a question that I should probably clear up. Mihawk's earring blade does have a sheath, the sheath is what the earring attachment is on, making it so the blade can be taken out whenever without any worries of it getting caught on anything. hopefully that explained it.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"Sabo! I'm bored!" Luffy called as he jumped into his brother's arms.

Sabo rolled his eyes, "well then, what would you like to do?" he asked with a grin, moving the fourteen-year-old so he was comfortably sitting on his shoulders.

Luffy hummed, poking his cheek cutely as he thought. "can we go swimming?" he asked.

Now that he's had a few year of practice using both forms almost equally, Luffy can now swim and fight in both forms very well, no longer overestimating his reach in his Human form or relying completely on his strength in his Dragon form. He got a lot better at fighting and amazingly better at techniques, especially the unique or creative ones, as well as some tactics, but that still needs improvement.

"sure." After saying that, the blond took Luffy to a cove hidden a fair distance away from where Ace and Jinbei were fighting, they could hear them, so they knew where to avoid. They weren't too worried, even if this was the fifth day they've been fighting, Ace was strong, and he wasn't going down without a fight. Besides, he called dibs on the fight, they couldn't interfere now.

Roughly around the end of the first day, the fight to the death that it started as sort of faded away to be replaced with vicious sparing between frenemies. They were still trying to kill each other, of course, but they weren't doing it with as much ferocity as before. It was nice to see Ace making friends, it was so rare now, especially after they tried getting some supplies from the village back on Luffy's island – because it will always be Luffy's island, no one elses – and the people there immediately distrusted them for no other reason than that they came from the mountains and the last _thing_ that came there was a dragon that was _obviously_ trying to eat them all, because it's a crazy, ravenous beast. The person who told them that was none other than the mayor.

After that, Ace and Sabo became know throughout the entire village as a duo of pickpockets, pranksters, bullies, thieves, and savages. They don't regret a single thing they did. Luffy refused to go anywhere near the place, always running and hiding in his treasure horde whenever it's even mentioned.

Besides, Mihawk agreed with their ideas and often used the villages as practice dummies for their harmless techniques and teaching Sabo how to control his eating habits. Now, seven and a half years later, the blond has a huge amount of control over his Vampire side and wont loose control no where near as fast as he would before.

As promised, Shanks visited them often, usually with all sorts of gifts and cool trinkets from the islands he's traveled to and a crew of happy pirates ready to party with the boys all night. Shanks had quickly adapted to living life with only one arm, it was a lot easier than most think, and never regretted giving it up for the boy, instead he helped Sabo a lot with teaching him to swim. His lessons helped a lot and the boy flew to swimming like a fish to water, which isn't too far as a comparison. While he may be a Fire dragon and drew his strength from volcanic places, fire and magma, as that was his natural habitat as far as books were concerned, he was the only type of dragon who could easily live in other places, the ocean or the sky for example.

Fire dragons don't rule places like that, but they can happily live there. The wings attest to that.

Not that he can fly yet, that was still a work in progress. Ace, however, could fly spectacularly, his speed was much faster than most birds in an open space, and after years of practice, his maneuverability increased massively. He was no longer a downed bird, instead he was the master of the skies, and unbeatable flyer. Obviously, he couldn't use his awesome abilities in battle, it would draw too much attention to himself, and they already had enough of that. Each of them supported bounties, with Ace's being the most as he was the showiest of the trio and Luffy with the least as he wanted to wait until he made his own crew before showing the world his skills.

At least the photos were good.

When Garp first saw Sabo's bounty, the one he got as a kid, he had rushed home to save them, but was too late, they had already left and were at their new home by then. a few months later, he finally found them hiding away in Luffy's home caves, which they are happy to declare that they can travel though without getting horribly lost, demanding that they come with him to become 'great marines'.

Eventually, and it really was _eventually_, Garp finally relented and gave up trying to make them marines, they wouldn't be safe with him, not while the marines had someone like Akainu as an admiral. they would've killed the trio in their sleep as soon as they found out that they were. Either that or given them as a prize to the Celestial Dragons. Garp still didn't look very happy at the idea but sighed and told them to be 'good pirates' and to make him proud. That was the only time he ever gave them permission to become pirates, they never asked again, and the topic was never brought up again. honestly, they just didn't want him to suddenly change his mind.

That was a long conversation. Luckily, Mihawk had been away for it as he had been called off by the World Government to go do a thing. Probably destroy a fleet of pirates or something, it got on the news later that week, turns out he had used his new earring swords to cut the boats to ribbons. On the report, he had told them, "I was destroy a group of eyesores, does it matter how?" then he had left in his small, one-man ship and disappeared.

Though, all he did was come back to Luffy's home, no disappearing act needed.

After a year, Mihawk had left, promising, just like shanks, to visit on occasion. That was usually about once or twice a year, and if they were lucky, it might increase to three or four. By the time he did leave, though, he had become an amazing user with Chīsana Chikara, the tiny sword gift he got from Luffy and it was rather hilarious to watch the swordsman wield the toothpick sized weapon. Even if he can cut the tops off every tree in the entire forest with it…

For the 6 years after that, the three boys practiced everything, weapons, fighting, stealing, flying, looting, swimming, flames, emotions, Haki, manners. Everything. At first it didn't seem like they were making progress, but slowly, painstakingly slowly, they improved, until finally, everything just clicked.

They hadn't really focused on Haki in the forest, more concentrated in controlling themselves and their instincts, but they did unlock at least one each. Sabo has full control over his Armament Haki, to the annoyance of Ace – he got it after a very eventful evening and a lot of broken trees, and maybe a few dead animals (they got eaten). Ace got observation Haki, and it was really good too, he unlocked it when he was searching for Luffy in his horde when he doesn't want to be found. It normally took forever, but with his observation Haki it became really easy. And somehow, Luffy unlocked his conquerors Haki. According to Mihawk, it had been unlocked from the start so their best speculation of when he unlocked it would be when his mother died protecting him.

Finally, on the first of January, also Ace's 17th birthday, the trio set off. They had already decided they weren't going to amass a crew; they had no need for one. After all, Ace could cook surprisingly well now, Sabo had been studying up on medicine – so while he wasn't as good as the best out there, he wasn't bad either and can heal most wounds – they all found that both Sabo and Ace were good at repairing things, it's the sort of thing you pick up after living in a jungle most of your life, and Luffy did a great job at being a treasurer and accountant, surprisingly, and kept track of all their funds and transactions amazingly.

Who would have guessed that the dragon could count well into the trillions? They sure didn't, but after the boy counted all the coins in his horde, they believed it. thought, the amount he has is a lot more than a few hundred trillion, and fuck that was a lot of money. and the craziest thing is, he was only counting the money, not the gems or jewels or anything else of value, just the dull metal coins.

For obvious reasons, and maybe less obvious ones too, the boys decided not to bring any of Luffy's horde with them. the dragon agreed, stating that it belonged there, and he didn't want any of it to leave the safety of the curse.

They set sail in the morning. Their boat was nothing fancy, really, it was a standard fishing dingy from the village, they stole it, obviously. The trio still loved the craft a lot though, getting attached to it and everything.

It wasn't until they were halfway through the grand line when they got a new one.

The trio had landed at a shipwright island called Water 7, it was a cool place and Luffy loved exploring it, especially underwater where no one else could follow his as they can't hold their breath long enough. Ace kept an eye on him through observation Haki, just to make sure he was safe, while they went to look for a shipwright to build them a ship that won't sink.

It didn't take that long, in fact, all they had to do was make an appointment with the Galley-ya company and specify what they wanted. Luffy came and joined them halfway through, adding things that he wanted like an extra-extra-large fridge – they had already gotten an extra-large fridge – and a bigger treasury to hold more stuff. It wasn't until later that they found out that Luffy wanted to sleep there, so they got an extra bed installed in there if they wanted to join him as well, to the confusion of the shipwrights.

Up until that point, to keep Luffy's scales clean and strong, he had been sleeping on a pile of coins and metal stuff on the floor of their room in a half transformed state, his body was covered in scales but he didn't look anything like a dragon, just a red scaled boy. When he was learning how to use better hybrid forms, Sabo and Ace couldn't stop cracking up, especially when he walked in with a human body before falling over because his dragon head is too big for his body to support it.

Eventually, he did learn to control it.

Along with the transformations, Luffy also taught himself, with some help from Ace, how to control flames, later they practiced with lava and magma. After a few failed attempts at this, Luffy accidentally fell into a stray stream of magma in his dragon form, the older boys were absolutely freaked and terrified, Ace almost burn his hand in an attempt to try and get the larger dragon out.

Turns out, Luffy can draw power from magma – like fire. When he surfaced, he smiled happily to his brother before explaining that he felt stronger in the hot substance and liked swimming in it. after that, it wasn't rare to see Luffy making trips to the nearby Volcano to go swimming.

Anyway, when their brand-new ship was finished, mostly sail powered but with a flame powered engine at the back if there was no wind, the three boys left, heading to their next destination.

By the time six months passed, the ASL pirates had entered the second half of the grand line, the new world, and it was there that they met a fishman named Jinbei, ally of the yonko, Whitebeard.

Ace, being Ace, just had to challenge him to a fight.

And here we are now, five days into the fight which looked to be ending soon, with a bored Luffy and exasperated Sabo.

"Ne, Sabo." Luffy said, making the blond shake himself out of his thoughts, "can I go hunting?"

Sabo smiled, "of course you can, Luffy, be back in a few hours, I'll be waiting here."

That was all the permission Luffy need before taking off what little remained of his clothes, carefully passing the straw hat over to Sabo and carelessly chucking his trunks in his general direction. He kept the ankle bracelet from his mother in him, it was designed and made to survive his shift, so he would wear it all the time. Without further ado, the boy changed to dragon and disappeared into the ocean.

Sabo smiled at the different handling of clothing, Luffy really cared about the hat and ankle bracelet, he placed Luffy's precious straw hat on his back with the string wrapped around his neck and held the trunks in his hand. He swam back to shore easily, the currents were with him, and placed the wet clothing on the hot sand before laying down flat on his back, enjoying the sun.

With the ring on, Sabo didn't have to care about sun or how hot it was, it just didn't matter to him anymore. He didn't sunburn, none of them did, and he didn't tan, he was always going to be super pale.

The ring did more than just block out the sun, too. It was about a month after they arrived at Luffy home, Mihawk explained that Vampires don't actually have a pulse or a heartbeat and had a very cold natural temperature. The ring negates all of that, suddenly he has a pulse again and his body temperature isn't super cold, and he had a heartbeat. And somehow, Sabo didn't even notice it until Mihawk pointed it out to him.

That brought up the question of "how do you know if a Vampire is alive then? what if he was injured or unconscious and they couldn't tell because his ring was off, and he looked like a corpse? Or if he was sleeping and someone thought he was dead?"

As expected, Ace and Luffy were both interested in this line of thought, they wanted to be there for him whenever they can, and they plan to know exactly how to help.

Mihawk had simply grinned and stated, "eye color. Each Vampire has set colors for each emotion, my are void because of a dragon curse, but I can already tell that a deep ocean blue would be calmness? Am I correct?"

Ace nodded and handed him the notes they took on it, the list of eye colors and which animal blood makes him react that way, "ah, so you already found out about animal blood. Well, I might as well tell you about that too. Each type of animal has a different emotion, or color, that will affect each Vampire differently. For example, chickens make you anxious while they make me bored. The emotion is force; therefore, the Vampire has little to no control over most of his actions when affected by the blood. This is why I want you to eat human blood as much as possible, because while animal blood is okay as a substitute, it will never really suffice and you will eventually lose control over your instincts, and animal blood comes with weird side effects while human blood heals you and makes your stronger for a set amount of time."

"oh, that makes a lot more sense now." Sabo spoke in awe.

Luffy scratched his head, "I don't get it?"

Ace laughed before stated for Luffy, "assume it's a mystery." They had long since given up trying to explain complex things to Luffy, it never led anywhere.

Luffy smiled, "got it, so its mystery blood."

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement, Sabo looked at Mihawk and silently asked him to continue. The swordsman rolled his eyes but did.

"so, to tell if a vampire is alive or not without the ring on is simple. If they are asleep, their eye color will usually be whatever their's is for calm, for you, Sabo, it would be blue. If they are dead, they won't have an eye color, the entire thing will go a milky grey. If your injured in any sort of way, drink human blood and it will heal the wound. Do you three understand?" Mihawk asked the boys.

Surprisingly, Luffy was the first to nod, and with a serious expression on his face to boot, "yes. It's a mystery eyes."

Nevermind.

"do you two understand?" the swordsman asked the older pair.

Both boys nodded, "thank's uncle Hawky." Ace says happily, and maybe a slight be teasingly.

Mihawk sighs, "do you have to call me that as well? Luffy's bad enough."

They don't answer.

Back in the present, Sabo was laying in the sun, blissfully enjoying his nap, when Luffy jumped on top of him.

"luffy, warn me next time, okay…?" he paused when he looked at his younger brother, the dragon was in human form, naked for obvious reason, and is completely stressed out. "hey, hey, Luffy. What wrong? What happened?"

Luffy fiddled with his fingers, "i-I was swimming, then there was a ship…"

"please don't tell me you tried to make friends with them." Sabo hopes out loud. it wasn't the first time, at least he never approached them in his dragon form, just as a naken swimming boy... yeah, that wasnt much better.

Luckily, Luffy shakes his head, "it was a very big boat and it looked like whale, there is a bunch of really strong people on the ship, I can feel it. the whale boat is coming towards this island. Sabo, I'm scared, the people are really strong."

Sabo picked Luffy up and put him in his lap, the fourteen-year-old may only be 3 years younger than him but he looked like he was eleven or twelve, rubbing his hand comfortingly over his younger brother's back. Luffy hugged his brother tightly, not wanting to let go.

"shh, don't worry Luffy, we'll be fine. It's probably just some group of pirates headed towards this island, it's not like they're after us or anything, that would be ridiculous." He comforted.

Luffy nodded before jumping up to his feet and putting on the clothes he had discarded earlier. Sabo joined him and Luffy got dressed. With that done, Sabo grabbed Luffy and started walking inland.

"either way, we should go and tell Ace and get off this island. Fights are fun, but if you're scared of their strength, then we should leave." he knew a fight they couldn't win when he saw one, and if Luffy, a dragon, was scared by how much stronger they were, they really shouldn't fight.

Luffy nodded, taking the lead into the forest, holding his hat he grabbed off Sabo tightly on his head, it always provided him comfort when he needed it. the two ran towards the places they last heard the raging battle from, it had stopped now, and they could only hope that was a good thing.

* * *

Ace raised his hands together, pooling a large amount of flames directly in front of him, before pulling his arms back and pushing them forwards. The flames spread forth in a concentrated chamber of burning air, directly towards his opponent.

Jinbei dodged to the side in a roll but wasn't expecting the beam to curve and follow him, he dodged again and again, but it just didn't seem to let up. Having enough of this, the Fishman made some ground from the oncoming fire stream and took a stance. He closed his eyes in concentration, condensing all his power and all his fishman karate into the one attack.

Shooting forth a condensed stream of water to the beam of fire, it hit directly in the middle, making the fire implode in on itself. The water traveled tough the entire beam, stopping its forward motion. The chain reaction of explosions rocketed all the way back to the user, who was still giving his all to the fire stream.

As soon as Ace noticed that his fire stream had been countered, he released his control on it and jumped away. The explosions wouldn't do anything to him, he was made out of fire after all, but he did want to be ready for his next attack. Jinbei had the same idea and they met in the middle, throwing punches and kicks as the explosions went off around them.

Preparing for a strong punch to the face, Ace pulled his arm back. Jinbei did the same. Instead of their fists meeting in the middle, they both passed each other, crashing into the other's head with all the strength and effort the other could muster.

Both of them took a few steps backwards to retain their balance, Ace caught himself while jinbei fell backwards onto the ground, disrupting the dust and sending a small cloud poof up as he landed. Both were breathing hard at the strain of the five-day battle with hardly any breaks.

Sabo and Luffy had fun throwing water bottles and food at them.

It wasn't long later when Ace fell to the ground across from the fishman, trying to reclaim his breathing patterns and make them calm down. It wasn't working very well. The Fae closed his eye, he won, Finally. It took so long, but he did it.

"hey… jinbei…" Ace started between breaths.

"what, brat… aren't you going… to finish me… off?" Jinbei said with a huff. It was an amazing battle, but he lost, the winner would kill him now, that was how most human pirate behaved, right? And they were both pirates. He knew the rules

"…no." Ace stated with certainty, "I wanna ask… do ya want… to be my friend?" he asked as he lay flat in the dirt and grass, most of the trees have been uprooted by now. the left-over flames slowly died down as his adrenaline faded.

A smirk appeared on Jinbei's face, "your… friend? Why?"

Ace responded with his own smirk, staring at the sky as the sun fell into late afternoon, sunset would be in a hour or two, "cause, I like you."

Jinbei closed his eyes in peace, laughing quietly to himself before it grew into a loud and boisterous laugh. He couldn't believe this, after fighting for five days straight, the brat wants to be his _friend_. He was definitely crazy, but maybe it could be fun. Slowly his laughter died down and silence remained between to two.

"sure, kid. I'll be your friend." He said with a smile before passing out, he was tired. Ace wasn't too far behind him.

* * *

It was a few minutes later when Ace woke up to the sound of a ship docking on the beach nearby. Something heavy landed on the ground and whatever it was yelled something, sounding similar to a challenge. Or maybe it was a declaration? Ace couldn't tell, he was only just waking up, his mind wasn't entirely there yet.

Once it was and he blinked into reality, Ace stood up, standing his ground against the strongest man in the world, Edward Newgate, otherwise known as whitebeard.

"shit." He mumbled to himself. He and his brothers knew the dangers of challenging one of his 'children' to a fight, but Ace just couldn't help it. he always wanted to fight the Warlord. He knew that there was a possibility that the Captain would make an appearance, even if only to make sure his ally was alright.

They knew the risks, but they didn't actually believe he would come.

"Ace!" a childlike voice yelled out in distress, he instantly recognized it as Luffy's.

He looked over his injured shoulder and sure enough, both his brothers were madly running towards him. they wouldn't make it in time, everyone knew that, but it wouldn't stop them from trying.

"no! stay away, luffy!" he yelled back, his brother only ran faster.

Ace looked up at Whitebeard and got into a low fighting stance. Everything hurt and he didn't want to fight, and he didn't really have a reason too, but what he wanted wouldn't matter, not to the enemy. Whitebeard took this as a challenge and got into a stance on his own.

Ace set himself on fire, "Fire wall!" he called the name of his most defensive technique. he didn't put it in front of him, he knew it wouldn't matter much, instead he put it behind him, protecting his brothers from the pirates even as his vision swam.

The enemy captain jumped forward with a strong punch to the stomach. Ace only blocked, too exhausted to fight back. he hit the dirt, holding back his cry of pain. Ace clung to whatever remains of his consciousness, keeping the fire wall up.

It wouldn't harm his brothers, he knew this, it would only push them away without allowing them through. Luffy, with his ability to control flames, will be able to get though, but it would take a few minutes. Just enough time for the pirates to do what they came here for. Just enough time for him to protect his brothers from their grasp.

He would do it, even as he felt someone pick him up and take him somewhere. His vision tunneled and dotted out of focus, but still he kept the fire wall up, just barely.

He heard voices and screaming and then nothing.

And he could remember no more.

* * *

Luffy watch as Ace threw up a fire wall in their way. he could feel a tear roll down his face, but he didn't stop charging forward with all his might.

After Sabo and Luffy had left the beach, they broke into a run to get Ace away from the arriving pirates and get off the island before anything bad happened. Halfway back, they felt the pirates land on the beach, going to where they could feel ace and jinbei had been fighting. They could see that both of them were on the ground, beat up and bruised from the fighting. Neither were in a condition to fight back.

But they weren't close enough to help.

The large pirate jumped off the boat and walked towards ace, saying something they couldn't hear. Ace stood up to fight him but didn't really look like he wanted to.

"Ace!" Luffy yelled, trying to get him away from the scary pirate, he didn't want to lose his brother, he didn't want to lose anyone. The scary pirate would take him away and Luffy and Sabo would be lonely. He couldn't do that! He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Ace looked back and Luffy could tell that he noticed them, the fire in his eyes returned with a shocking intensity. He fell into a stance, ready to fight. But both brother could tell that he was only doing to protect them. they saw the punch coming before Ace did.

But before it landed, Ace threw up a fire wall, blocking their view of the life changing battle.

"Ace! No! don't do this!" Sabo yelled next to him, charging at the fire as well.

When the pair hit the fire wall, the flames did nothing to them. the brothers charged through with an unbeatable intensity, but when they got halfway through the flames, they were kicked out. Thrown away.

Luffy was up in seconds, clawing at the flames that held him back, screaming his torment over the roar of the fire. It wouldn't be heard, but he yelled, trying to get ace back as the tears streamed down his face before steaming off from the heat of the flames that had no effect on him.

Sabo stood behind him, yelling for his older brother, following close behind his younger brother who crazed his way through the thick flame walls. Sabo's eyes shaded to a deep black, with a touch of brown, the colors of protectiveness over his brothers and fear for their safety. He wanted to go back to the way it uses to be, where it was just the three of them with no worries about who they fought or what would happen. Where they didn't have to fear about the death of their oldest brother, or the reaction Luffy might have to it.

Whatever it would be, it wasn't going to be good.

With one finally desperate scream, Luffy was through. Running without hesitating, the boy ran towards the ship that was making its way out to sea.

"Ace!" he yelled, waving his arms forward, trying to reach out to his brother. The fire responded to his command, spinning forward to get to the boat. if they were luckily, it would catch fire and sink so they can go rescue Ace. But it just wasn't their day.

The ship sailed away, both brothers screaming out as it disappeared into the distance.

* * *

It was many hours later when they slowly calmed down.

"Ace…" Luffy mumbled, sniffling as tears streamed down his face without stopping. He was sitting in the water, the waves slowly passing underneath him, taunting him with its calm and tentative grasp. "come back…"

Sabo put a hand on his back, trying to comfort the boy as he cried his eyes out. "what are we going to do now?" he asked desperately, more to himself then anything. He looked at the sky for inspiration, maybe if he looked up to the stars on this deceptively nice night it would tell him how to continue forward.

Suddenly Luffy's tears dried up and he sucked in his breath. He stood up, balling his fists into his pants. "we're going to get him back." He said, steel in his voice.

Sabo bit his bottom lip, completely agreeing with his younger brother no matter how impossible it was supposed to be.

"we're getting him back and we're kicking that old guys ass for stealing Ace. He's my treasure, and my brother. I'm not leaving him there." Luffy said strongly, staring down at the ocean.

Sabo nodded, standing next to his brother. "yeah." He agreed, wiping his own silent tears away, trying not to show any fear or worry for his brother. He had to be strong now, he had to be there for Luffy. "let's go get him back. Come on, we'll grab the boat and go after them."

The dragon nodded, his face set into a deep frown of anger and hurt. Sabo couldn't imagine how much this hurt him and what would happen. He only hoped he would be able to keep him safe until then.

Sabo grabbed Luffy's hand and guided him to the ship before following after the ship who took their brother. unaware of the heartach and stress the younger is feeling. he couldn't lose anyone else, not now.

They _will_ get Ace back. There was no arguing that.

* * *

It took five days to catch up to the bigger ship. five days of trying to coax Luffy into eating. Five days of worrying over Ace. Five days of losing sleep as the brothers held each other in their arms, to afraid to let go on the off chance that the other would disappear.

Five days of endless mental torture.

By the time the ship was finally in sight, Luffy looked like he was about to collapse already. He wouldn't though, he was too strong for that and nothing would get in the way of saving his brother, because there was no way he would even think for a second that he wasn't still alive. Neither of them wanted to think about that possibility, because if they did, then Luffy wouldn't be able to survive and Sabo wouldn't be able to cope. Not alone.

Sabo grit his teeth. "Luffy, please eat something before we get there. Please, do it for Ace."

Luffy crosses his arms and looks away, he won't do it and there was nothing he could do to change his mind. He was sitting on the heat plate on the main deck of the ship. It was linked up to the engine room and connected to an engine. It was in place so that either he or Ace could set themselves on fire and drive the ship forward with a huge amount of power with little to no effort.

Normally it would be Ace on the heat plate while he sat on the figure head, looking to the future. But now, with ace gone, he had to sit there, and he refused to leave for anything, food, water, sleep. They were insignificant in the face of his lost brother.

"no." he refused.

Sabo pouted, knowing it was a losing battle. He placed the jammed toast on a plate in front of Luffy, hoping that he would eat it anyway. Without Ace here, their meals have been downgraded to something less than good. Luffy didn't want to cook or eat anything and Sabo couldn't cook. As shown, he could jam bread, but not much else without accidentally setting fire to the kitchen.

That was where Ace belonged, not him.

Sabo ruled the Infirmary, Ace ruled the kitchen and Luffy ruled the treasury. The rest were shared between the three. That was how it's always been, nothing more, nothing less. They didn't want to change that now.

Sabo came to sit down beside him, but not on the heat plate, that would hurt him, but still nearby.

"we can see the ship now, but we're still an hour away. Please eat the bread." He practically begged, watching his brother intently, "I don't want to lose you too." Luffy flinched. Sabo knew it wasn't his best idea to guilt trip the boy, but he couldn't think of much else to do. Nothing else worked.

It was about ten minutes later when Luffy slowly and hesitantly moved to pick up the slice of bread. Sabo smiled happily at the action, even when it took the usually superfast eater another ten minutes to eat the small slice of bread and jam.

"thank you." he said. Luffy huffed and refused to look at him, kicking the plate away. It skidded to a stop in front of Sabo and he took it to the kitchen to be washed later.

It wasn't much longer until a giant blue bird landed on their ship. Sabo looked at it wearily, knowing exactly who the fire blue bird was, while Luffy growled at it threateningly, sensing danger from it that never means anything good. The blue bird seemed to be on fire with sparks and trails of yellows everywhere. It stood on the railing as if it owned it, not something either of them agree with.

Then the flames pealed back to reveal a human man with hair that reminded them of a pineapple. He was wearing a purple jacket as he put his hands in his pockets. His pants were knee length cargo shorts with a sash wrapped around his waist. On his feet were sandals and on his chest was a tattoo that resembled the Jolly Roger of the whitebeard pirates.

Luffy growled more.

"mind telling me why your following our ship?" he asked.

Luffy stood up, ready to attack, "thief!" he accused.

Sabo crossed his arms in front of his chest, "give Ace back." He demanded, his eyes turning a pure black as he stared at the pineapple man who stole his brother.

"we didn't steal anything of yours, you must be mistaken." The man said. Sabo narrowed his eyes at him while Luffy got into a fighting stance, the man didn't move but both of them could tell his was on guard and ready to fight. "my name is Marco, what's yours."

Neither answered.

"you stole Fire Fist Ace. You stole him from us after he fought against the Warlord, Jinbei! Now give him back!" Sabo yelled, trying his best to resist the instinct to tear the guy apart and get his brother back.

"oh, Fire Fist." Marco scratched his cheek, "sorry, but we're keeping him now. he's going to join our crew." He smiled, appearing happy.

That was it. Luffy jumped forward, teeth bared as he tried to claw at Marco with his nails. He didn't bring his dragon claws out because that would mean breaking his promise to his brothers, and he wouldn't do that.

Marco jumped backwards off the railing, transforming his arms into wings to keep him in the air.

Luffy let out a frustrated scream as he stared down the fiery blue bird, all he wanted was his big brother back, was that so hard to ask?!

"well, see ya! If you attack our ship, we will retaliate." The bird warned before flying away.

Sabo screamed along with luffy, "give back Ace dammit!" normally he would be a lot calmer and a lot more collected then either of his brothers, but right now, after five days of no sleep, little food – most of which was burnt – and trying to get luffy to do basic things, is a lot more stress then Sabo wants. So, it's no surprise when his calm demurer is replaced with rage and a savagery to those who stole his brother. That, and his Vampire side is calling out to him to kill them all with no remorse. And for once, he found himself agreeing.

It wasn't long before Luffy climbed back onto the heat plate, spurring the craft forward faster than before, draining a lot of his energy. Tears streamed down his face when he reached the bigger ship. When close, Sabo throw a barbed hook at the ship, cutting a hole through the side so the boat wouldn't float away from the other.

Sabo grabbed Luffy by the arm and they both jumped over the railing of the bigger ship, landing on the main deck. Greeted by the entire crew.

Whitebeard sat in a chair at the far end of the ship, when he spoke, he made the entire ship vibrate. "you're a hundred years early to challenge me, brat!" he declared.

Luffy growled, "give Ace back!"

Whitebeard laughed, "you mean Fire Fist?" when the boy's faces hardened even more than they already were, whitebeard continued, "sorry brats, but he's a part of our family now."

Not the best choice of words.

Luffy glared at the captain before he glared desperately at the rows of armed pirate, ready to attack if they did anything fishy or suspicious. His heart ached from the loss of one of his closest treasures, he narrowed his eyes at the thieving pirate before he yelled a frustrated, scared, lonely and desperate scream. venting all his pent up and tired emotions that have been swelling within his since Ace was taken. Releasing a massive and powerful wave of conquerors Haki across the entire deck, most fell.

The two boys smirked viciously, finally finding a weakness.

They charged into the battle with the remaining pirates, the ones strong enough to stand. Both were dead set on only one objective, get Ace. All else didn't matter, these pirates were just a steppingstone in their way. all they needed to do was get past it, then they would be out of there.

If only things went to plan.

* * *

The first thing Ace did after waking up was roll onto his side.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but it was obviously way too long for his wings to stand. Added to the five days he had to hold them in as he fought with jinbei.

Jinbei… what happened after that? … he won then…asked him to be his friend… then… what?

"oh, your awake." An unfamiliar voice said.

Ace's eyes shot open and he was sitting up, looking everywhere to find out where the hell he was, as well as trying to ignore the massive waves of pain coming from his back. he was in an infirmary, but not his, not Sabo's. it had a lot more beds and smelled worse. besides, it he was in Sabo's care, his wings would not feel broken right now - the blond would get them out first and let them flail around as he worked. Sabo was really good at avoiding the wings when he used them to bat the blond away.

"don't more so much, your injuries will reopen." The person in weird clothing said again, trying to poke and prod him with various things. He pushed her off, climbing to his feet even as his vision warped.

He glared at the nurse, because it was clear she was a nurse, "where the fuck am I and where are Luffy and Sabo!" he yelled, setting his hand on fire for better effects. He used the other one to support himself against the deck.

"please, lay back down so you don't–"

"where are they!" he yelled louder, set the first thing he touched on fire, it was a medical record of him. they must've compiled it while he slept. Good. They don't deserve that sort of information. He also set the bed frame on fire as he lent against it and the desk the folder was on.

"don't touch that! It's important!" the nurse pleaded, taking a step towards him, he responded by sending a wave of fire in every direction. The nurse was thrown backwards, the fire burning through her clothes and leaving a small burn on her stomach.

"stop that, yoi!" someone yelled from behind him. Ace quickly spun around to face a blond man wearing a purple jacket. He looked like a pineapple.

He decided that they might be able to answer his questions, "where the fuck am I and where the hell are my brothers." He glared at the new guy, making sure to keep him arm on fire, ready to attack again.

he shoved away the nausea that threatened to come and he ignored the throbbing pain robbing him of feeling, that didn't matter now, only his brothers did. All he had to do was find them, then everything will be alright, Sabo would make all the pain disappear, just like he always does. He's really good at medicine, even if Ace is the only one he gets to practice on often.

The blond looked at him with wide eyes, as if something he said mattered to him, "your onboard the Moby Dick, the flag ship of the Whitebeard pirates. I'm Marco, first division commander. Your brothers are on the little boat following us."

Ace narrowed his eyes at the guy, he didn't appear to by lying, but that doesn't mean he was going to trust him. he threw his hand towards the purple jacket man, sending a ball of fire rocketing towards the blond, he dodged.

Ace took the distraction as a chance to escape, running out of the room into a hallway. He hit the wall, struggling to stay upright. But he didn't care about himself right now, all that matter were his brothers.

"Luffy, Sabo… I'm coming." He mumbled to himself, leaning on the wall as he followed it somewhere, hoping he could get to the main deck so he could jump overboard were his brothers will come save him. where they always will.

He ignored his dulled senses and the blond man who had taken it upon himself to try and get him to come back to the infirmary. He spoke, but Ace didn't hear him, probably his hearing playing up.

Ace set fire to the corridor, that should keep him busy for a while, someone needed to stop it from burning, otherwise the entire ship will go down.

"fuck." The blond said as he watched the blaze start up.

Ace payed him no mind as he slowly creeped forward. He had some brothers to protect, he didn't care about some stupid blond on a thieving ship of fucktards.

He found a set of stairs and walked up, pain in his legs almost making his fall over more the once. Pulling the door in front of him open, he looked out onto a scene he didn't want to see.

Luffy and Sabo were fighting against the entire whitebeards crew, moving and dodging, striking and kicking, they were amazing. But they weren't winning. Each boy each had at least ten people on him at once, trying to trap his brothers or knock them unconscious. When one of the whitebeard pirates got injured, they would swap out with someone nearby, so they can get themselves treated by the nurses off to the side of the ighting. Sabo and Luffy didn't have this luxury as each wound, scratch, and exhaustion piled up on themselves, tiring them.

But they never faltered.

There were here to save him, Ace, and they would do anything to do it. Sabo attacked with his seastone pipe, adding Haki to it to make it even stronger and Luffy punched and kicked at every opponent.

He could tell that both of them had been crying recently, a lot, which is worrying in itself, but pales in comparison to the starved and thin look Luffy has and the tired and sleepy look both of them had. Bags hung heavily under their eyes and dried tears stuck to their cheeks. They didn't care what happened to them, though Sabo always moved Luffy out of the way of the more dangerous strike, proffering to take them himself. He could hear their frustrated and angry screams to the pirates, see them taking out their frustration on them. every hit fueled with all their might and desperation.

Ace took a shuddering breath, sending waves of pain throughout his chest and back, his wings hurt a lot, before releasing it in one big yell as he leaned against the wall next to the door.

"STOP TOUCHING THEM YOU ASSHOLES!" Ace yelled as loud as he could, gaining the attention of everyone.

The whitebeard pirates looked at him in confusion while Sabo and Luffy lit up. They lost their terrified and scared looks to replace them with happy and relieved ones. Luffy sprinted towards him, but unfortunately, the captain was standing between them.

Seeing that the large man was going to do something, probably attack his brother, Ace lit the deck on fire. Everyone on the main deck screamed as the fire burn them, moving away from the blaze. Luffy smiled and jumped right in, closely followed by Sabo.

"what the hell are they doing, that will kill them!" someone yelled.

"quick, get water!"

"ahhhh! I'm on fire! I'm on fire! Put it out! Put it out! Aaahhhhh!" the guy screaming quickly jumped overboard. Someone will throw him a ladder… probably.

Whitebeard slammed his Bisento down, silencing everyone. "quiet! Everyone, move away from the flames, commanders to me."

The crew moved according to the Captains commands. The division commanders quickly moved to their Pops, watching the flames intently for the first signs of the boys. Nothing happened, the flames just stayed there, attacking anyone who came too close but everything else was left alone. The heat burned everyone, keeping them a minimum of ten meters away.

Marco joined them not too long later, "the flame brat set fire to the hallway it's been put out. What now, yoi?" he said as he noticed the blaze on deck.

"um, this may be strange, but the fire's not actually burning anything." Vista noted after a few minutes of observations. Noting was happening. Well, nothing _more_ was happening.

Half the commanders did a double take, "huh, so it isn't." one of them said.

Thatch blinked, "wait, then why is it there?" he asked.

Whitebeard furrowed his brow, "it's there to protect them… from us." He said with a heavy heart. He didn't mean for this misunderstanding, or for this to happen. All he wanted was to invite Fire Fist to their crew, it seemed like he would fit in perfectly with them. he looked like someone who needed a family.

And now he and his friends were hiding from them because of a mistake they made.

"but why would they hide from us? We don't want to hurt them, just invite the eldest to the crew." thatch said, scratching his head in confusion.

Marco bit his lip. "they all looked rather distressed. Especially the littlest one. Fire Fist said they were brother, yoi."

Izo furrowed his brows, "it might have been my imagination, but were the blond one and the little one crying?" he saw the signs of crying on their cheeks, but he didn't believe they had been. After all, they had just jumped on their ship guns blazing, of course they were going to fight back.

Maybe that was a mistake.

"no, I saw them too." Vista added, looking downcast. He didn't want to hurt the boys. "they don't look like they have slept a wink in ages too."

Whitebeard wasn't getting a good feeling from this. What have they done? "the boys are afraid of losing each other, and we took away the eldest brother. We made a mistake." He said softly, but loud enough for all the commanders to hear him.

The flames faltered for a second, before fixing itself up again, burning darker them before.

"what was that?" Kingdew asked, he wasn't the only one who noticed the flames changing slightly. These flames appeared more restrained but wilder at the same time, like a predator ready to strike its prey, calm and steady until the moment of attack, then they become savage and dangerous.

Marco shook his head slowly, "don't know, but make sure everyone stays away from it. I get a bad feeling about it."

"the phoenix?" Whitebeard asked, Marco nodded.

The commanders moved everyone still on deck down below before chatting about random stuff, the boys or other things that need their attention. When finally, the flames start to die down.

The blond one was standing in front of the other two, holding his pipe and in a stance, ready to protect them if necessary. Fire Fist was unconscious, laying peacefully in the grasp of the youngest one, who didn't want to let Fire Fist go no matter what. He glared at the captain and the commanders as he hugged his older brother protectively.

The blond said with a calm but serious voice, eyes glowing two distinct colors, light blue and black. The colors didn't mix, staying apart from each other. "why do you want my brother."

* * *

Luffy and Sabo ran into the blaze, trying to get away from the horrible pirates who stole their brother. Flames are safe, flames are their brother. Fire will never hurt them. the fire was warm on their skin but didn't burn, nowhere near that hot. Once in the embrace of the flames, it finally allowed the boys to relax.

They were safe.

"Ace!" luffy called out happily, moving quickly to the center of the fire.

Ace was leaning against the wall, breathing deeply from the pain all over his body, but mostly due to his wings. They had been held in for too long.

"luffy…" he huffed, holding his hands out for his brother to hug him. luffy readily supplied and hugged him, refusing to let go. Tears streamed down his face as he buried his face into his chest, sniffles muted. "shh, shh. It's alright, I'm fine. We're all fine." Ace comforted, wrapping an arm around the youngest's body and placing his other arm on his head, slowly rubbing his hair comfortingly.

"ace…" Luffy cried into his chest, no wanting to say anything more.

"Ace!" Sabo cheered, jumping in to join the group hug, they happily let him, and Ace hugged him as well, calming down with his brothers nearby. His flames happily coiled around them, protecting Sabo and Ace while healing Luffy.

Dragons can take energy from their elements and heal themselves with it, Luffy, being a fire dragon, can heal by being on fire. Only downside is that they can't use their own flames, so Luffy can't set a tree on fire and heal himself with it, it has to be something else's flames. And luckily for them, Ace ate the Meri Meri no mi, the devil fruit of fire.

In fact, if everything is good, Ace is the one who heals the slowest. Luffy just needs flames or magma and can whatever ailed him, Sabo heals everything with some human blood, and it has to be human blood, animal blood just messes with his head and emotions. Whereas Ace just heals twice as fast as normal people if his wings are out and are well looked after. As It is, his wings are not in a good or well looked after state, in any meaning of the word.

"god, do you have any idea how much you scared us?!" Sabo punched his brother lightly on the head, nothing serious or even painfully, just a tap really. Ace clenched his jaws and shut his eyes, trying not to make a sound. "shit, Ace, what's wrong?"

The flame user didn't respond for a few seconds as his blond brother pulled away to get a better look at him. most of his normal wounds are healed over and bandaged, he had been cleaned up and looked neat. Except for the small bits of blood leaking through the bandages from reopened wounds, but that shouldn't be that painful. Ace slowly slid against the wall to the floor, moving Luffy so the boy was sitting in his lap.

"my..." Ace grits him teeth, unable to finish the sentence. He didn't need to, they understood straight away, his entire body tense as he hugged Luffy, trying to ignore everything.

Sabo clenched his jaw as he moved Ace away from the wall, trying to see how bad his back is. Once removing the bandaged in the way, Sabo cringed, biting his lip in thought. Two big bruises had formed, large vertical stripes, over his back. they were a deep purple and black colour with bits of yellow and green splattered everywhere. "we need to get your wings out." He stated.

Ace held Luffy tighter, "I _know._ And it _hurts_. You need to get the pirates to let us go, or at least stop attacking us. I don't care what you do, but you're going to have to do it soon." It normally took a lot to make Ace admit that he was in pain, so this set both his younger brothers on edge. While similar things have happened in the past, it was never as bad as this. The bruising never got so bad that they couldn't distinguish between back and bruise.

Luffy looked up at Sabo, "I can hear the pirates. They're saying things I don't understand."

Sabo, while his hearing is good it can't compare to the dragon's, asked, "what are they saying?"

Luffy wriggled a little in Ace's grasp, but didn't let go, "the bread hair guy said they wanted Ace to join his crew, and Mr. lady sounded guilty when he talked, same with top hat dude. And… and the giant banana Ossan said they made a mistake and said they shouldn't have taken Ace, because he's the oldest… why are they saying that?"

Sabo placed a hand on the dragon's head. "I don't believe that they know that what they did was bad. They don't know what we are and probably can't even guess it. We're not as obvious as we were before. That, and they might have wanted Ace for a different reason, like they found out what he is and want him, or they want his bounty, but that isn't plausible since they're pirates and not bounty hunters. There is also-"

It was at this moment that Ace fell asleep, damn narcolepsy kicking in at the worst possible moments.

"Luffy, take over the flames! Don't let them fall away yet." Sabo hurriedly explained.

Luffy nodded before closing his eyes, the flames turned a darker shade of red as he took control of them, compacting and strengthening to peak condition. He wouldn't be able to heal from them anymore, but it was enough. His eyes turned reptilian at this before calming down into his more human appearance.

Sabo sighed, these flames won't hurt him either, in fact Luffy's flames never did while Ace had to take a few weeks to practice the technique. Ace's flames were wild, but mostly uncontrollable, whereas Luffy's are also wild, even more so them ace's, but they were more constrained. They did exactly what he wanted then to, no variating from the path. Ace's flames would happily burn everything in sight, while Luffy's would only burn what was permitted.

Luffy's were sturdier and stronger. Ace's were quicker and hotter.

It came to no shock to the two that the flames constricted around them, growing slightly smaller, but more dangerous in its own way. Burning a deep crimson red instead of a bright orange.

"did it!" Luffy smiled up at his brother, who was holding Ace up after he fell asleep. Sabo gave him a genuine smile, but a tense one as he thought about all the ways to get out of their situation.

"good job, Luffy. Can you tell if they're saying anything else?" he asked, slowing placing Ace down, making sure not to put him on his back. Luffy moved to hold him and Sabo complied, placing Ace down so he was leaning against Luffy. The youngest brother wrapped an arm around his chest, holding him protectively like he would usually do for him.

"no, they're not talking about us anymore… they were startled by the change though… but not anymore. They're just talking about random stuff… hey Sabo, what's flirting?" Luffy asked with a face that screamed innocent, staring up at his older brother in anticipation and awe, Sabo always knew the answers.

Sabo coughed into his fist, hiding his embarrassment, "um, why do you ask?" he says, trying to look anywhere but those evil puppy dog eyes.

"Top Hat dude just told bread hair to stop doing it to Mr. Lady." Luffy replied simply. The sentence itself would've been the same as speaking a different language to anyone who didn't know luffy. As it were, it made perfect sense to Sabo.

Sabo nodded sagely, trying to come up with something to tell Luffy, "its… it's something you should never do. Yes, never flirt." his brother complex kicking in. not that he would admit it.

Luffy nodded, even though he still didn't know what it was, "okay." He agreed quickly, smiling at the blond. When his gaze travelled back down to Ace, he asked, "Sabo… what should we do?"

Sabo scrunched up his face in though, "I have a few ideas, but most of them won't end well. Our best bet would be going alone with whitebeard-"

"who's whitebeard?"

"Giant Banana Ossan."

"oh, okay."

"our best bet would be going along with whatever he wants until we can find a way out of here. But first we need to figure out what the hell it is he wants." Sabo mused.

Luffy hugged Ace more as a shiver of pain rocked his body, Luffy could feel it though him and it didn't make him relax, it made him more tense and scared for him brother. "we need to do it soon; Ace isn't going to hold out long." He mentioned. He had been in situations like Ace's, so knew how it felt, it wasn't bearable. The pain and uncomfortable feeling of the entire thing can get so horrible he didn't care where he ended up changing, in the middle of a street or next to a bloody Celestial Dragon, didn't matter much once he gets past a certain point, as long as it gets rid of the pain and the itch. He'll deal with all the other problems later, but what matters is getting rid of it.

Ace can only last nine days at most, it's been ten. He has already pasted that point, it must be unbearable to hold it back still, and yet he was. The only reason he hasn't yet is probably because he's been asleep for the last five days and it's only catching up to him now. When he wakes up, it wont matter where he is, Ace's wings _will_ come out.

They just needed to be in a safe spot before then, and_ that_ was up to Sabo.

"I've got an idea." Sabo said, picking up his pipe from where it had been placed on the ground. When he was standing in front of his brothers, facing the place all the remaining people on deck were, they also doubled as the strongest people onboard. "take down the flames."

Luffy nodded, holding Ace tighter. The flames slowly died down, coming to rest in front of him before dying out. He only hoped they didn't figure out that he could control flames too.

Sabo's eyes turned to the colours of calmness and protectiveness, a light blue and a deep black respectively. He took a deep breath, standing in front of him and Ace, and spoke.

"what do you want with my brother."

* * *

**Sorry for leaving you guys at such a big cliff hanger. Hehehe, yeah, I'm not sorry. I just reached my word requirement and decided to wrap it up (and that only took an extra 1500 word).**

**Anyways, Review, favourite, follow, do what you want. Have fun and stuff. Do whatever. Yeah…**

**See ya!**


	8. Settling In

"What do you want with my brother." The blond said with clear cut certainty in his voice, posture firm and alert for anything the pirates might do.

Whitebeard was the first to react, gesturing to his commanders to stand back and let him deal with this. As expected, they followed it willingly, most leaning against the railing. "What do you mean, brat?"

The blond took a deep breath, calming himself down, eyes turning a blue. he had to be strong for Luffy, or he would do something they would later regret. like turning into a dragon and flying away. He stared at the captain's eyes, boring a hole through him and into his soul, "you kidnapped my brother. Why?"

The captain hummed, "he interested me." he replied simply, not missing the way that set the two conscious boys on edge. It was more obvious in the younger one, the blond had an amazing poker face, but a glint in his eyes betrayed him. Only the most observant would be able to notice it. "I want him to join my crew, become one of my sons."

Sabo's grip on his pipe tightens, but he is proud that he can keep his voice as calm as it is. "And why does this mean you had to kidnap him?"

Whitebeard closed his eyes for a second, thinking of an appropriate answer that won't make the brats lash out. "i would not normally recruit like this, but for this instance, i chose to integrate him within our crew like this. i wanted to ask him to join our crew in person."

Sabo narrowed his eyes, "and he disagreed." He answered for him.

Whitebeard shook his head, "I haven't had a chance to ask him yet. He has been unconscious since then."

The young raven growled, _he actually growled_! Like some savage beast! "MINE!" he yelled at the crew, holding Ace tighter. "you can't have him!"

The whitebeard pirates blinked in surprise; the brat was very possessive. So much so that they were worried Ace might have been forced to join them in the first place. Although, he did protect them with that fire of his.

None of the whitebeard commanders said anything, not knowing how to respond to that clear possessive statement.

Sabo's thoughts were wild; on the upside, the pirates didn't know what they were and aren't after Ace for his wings…probably. They might just be trying to hide it from them, though. On the downside they can't get off this ship with fifteen strong people watching them intently for the first signs of running away and an injured Ace who could wake up at any moment and revealed a very damaging secret of theirs. No matter how much he wished it to not be true, he and Luffy were running on fumes. They needed rest and food, there was no way, no matter how determined they are, that they can escape this ship unscathed.

Now that he knew they didn't really mean them any harm – or they were very good at hiding it – Sabo can move his backup plan forward.

"will you let us go if we tell you he doesn't want to join your crew?" he tries, already knowing the answer before it was said.

Whitebeard shook his head, "I'm afraid I won't do that. I will not accept an answer that did not come from him. however, I will admit my wrong. I shouldn't have taken Fire Fist away from his family, and for that I am sorry."

Sabo glanced at luffy; the dragon nodded. The captain was sincere.

whitebeard continued before he could ask a follow up question, "having said that, I would like to change my offer, instead of inviting Ace to the crew, I would like to extend the invitation to you two as well."

Sabo grit his teeth, damn pirates thinking they can do whatever they want. Sure, they were also pirates, but they tried not to do things that took away other people's free will. "And if we refuse?"

"I don't think you will."

The conversation ended into a standstill, neither knowing how to continue. It wasn't a minute later when Luffy's voice broke the silence.

"Sabo…"

Said boy quickly looked behind him, Ace was slowly waking up, they had about five minutes. "_Shit_."

Whitebeard raised his eyebrows, they knew something he didn't, "What's wrong?"

Sabo looked back at him, eyes turning a slight yellowish brown before glancing at his brother again. when he finally looked up at him again, he spun his pipe off to the side and attached it to a loop on his back, "you want us? fine. We will stay on board this ship for a month, no longer, and then we will leave. You will not stop us. But we get a big empty room."

Whitebeard, sensing that something was off decided not to question it, "we have plenty of spare rooms, why would you want an empty one? And make it three months."

Sabo grit his teeth, "two. And our uses of the room are of no concern to you."

Taking it at face value, whitebeard moved on, "you've got yourself a deal. Now you better not break it." he warned.

Sabo somehow looked intimidating as he looked up at the captain, "we _don't_ break deal."

The captain nodded, "Marco, show them to the second division's third storage room, I believe it is still empty?"

"yep, it is, yoi." The first division commander answered as he walked forward, "come on."

Luffy glared at the phoenix, Marco shrugged it off believing it was only because he was unfriendly, they would warm up to him eventually. Sabo moved to help put Ace on Luffy's back, watching the phoenix closely. He was the one to tell them they were keeping Ace, he kept Ace away from them. the two boys didn't like him.

They held grudges when it mattered. And family matters.

The first division commander watched the boys, Luffy was staring at him unblinking while Sabo watched everyone else as they passed. The boys didn't complain as they were led down hallways and paths in the Moby dick.

Ace groaned in pain.

"shouldn't he be in the infirmary, yoi?" he asked, still annoyed that the fire brat burnt the nurse.

Luffy growled at him but Sabo responded, "I'm the ship's doctor, he's fine."

When Ace grit his teeth in his sleep, wrapping his hands around Luffy tighter. The younger boy didn't seem to notice, much less care about it. "I really think he should go back to infirmary; he looks to be in a lot of pain, yoi." He pointed out as they neared to second division's third storage room. Each division has three storage rooms to use as they please, the second division is the only one who isn't using all of them. and that was only because they didn't have a lot of people with huge amounts of stuff.

Or weird hobbies. The thirteenth division set up a weird collection of things-that-shall-not-be-named. And the seventh division might also double as a cult, they had enough of the weird and odd decorations for it. so, the storage rooms get used from whatever, some of them are actually completely used up, and they need to borrow some of the main storage rooms, but that was only if the division's storage rooms were used for the appropriate thing.

Like the fourth division and the eleventh division. Theirs are filled with non-perishable food and building materials respectively. thatch's pranking supplies are stored somewhere Marco hasn't found yet. if he did, it wouldn't be there anymore.

"Ace is fine." He said tightly. Marco shrugged, if the younger blond was a doctor, he wasn't going to complain. Even if was obvious the freckled boy was in pain.

He probably already knows what's wrong with Ace and will hopefully fix it sooner rather than later. Whatever it is, it looked painful.

"fine, yoi. Don't take him to the infirmary." Marco puts his hands up like a surrender, but only for a few seconds before he grabbed the handle of a door. "this is the second division storage room. we'll move a bed in here later, if you want."

Sabo nodded, opening the door wider and letting Luffy go in first. "that would be appreciated, but we will be fine. Don't expect us to appear for a while, and do _not_ come in here, or the deal is off, and we will leave."

Marco raised an eyebrow; they sure had some privacy issues. what was so bad it someone saw them? _hmm, maybe they have embarrassing scars?_ He wondered. It was possible, Sabo had that large burn scar on his face, although that one looked more badass than anything else.

He shrugged, "that's fine, yoi. I'll tell people not to come in here anymore."

Sabo nodded politely before not so politely slamming the door in his face. He could hear him fiddling with something on the other side of the door, probably jamming something into the handle so it wouldn't open.

Marco put his hands in his pockets and walked away, whistling a tune to himself as he went to the captain to tell him of this. It wouldn't do to have someone accidentally walk in on them and have the boys run away from them. that wouldn't do at all.

* * *

"he's gone." Sabo pronounced.

Ace groaned, "finally…" he mumbled before two wings spread from his back, dislodging some of the bandages there. "ow… Sabo, make the pain go away…" he moaned into the wooden floor, letting his orange and red wings flop awkwardly around. Luffy quickly attached himself to Ace's side, too afraid that he will disappear again. Being careful not to touch the painful looking wings.

Sabo rolled his eyes, "you know it doesn't work like that." He said, "besides, I don't have any of my stuff here, it's all on board our ship."

Ace sighed as he rubbed luffy's back comfortingly, "I'm not going to be allowed anywhere without him, am I?"

The vampire smiled, "nope! You've got your very own leach. Mr. leach, say hello."

"'ello…" Luffy mumbles into Ace's side.

Ace sighed. "oh well." He accepts his fate; it was always easier to go along with whatever luffy wanted then it is to argue him out of it... half the time… "at least he's cute." And that.

Luffy lightly hits Ace, "'m not coot." He muttered.

Sabo placed a hand on the dragons head, "don't worry Luffy, you can sleep now. Ace is safe and I'm right here. And your definitely cute."

Luffy wriggled so he was more comfortable "...'m not." And he was out. Soft snores rose from the sleeping boy next to Ace.

The older boy's sighed. "finally, he's asleep. He's been awake since you left, only getting some shut eye when he literally passed out." Sabo whispered to Ace, neither of them wanted to accidentally wake up the young dragon, even if they both knew he was dead to the world. He was a very heavy sleeper.

Ace grinned, "good." His keen eyes travel over Sabo, "now, you look like you could use some rest too, I'll keep an eye out, or an ear, so go rest."

The blond rolled his eyes, "not until I check you over and mummify you."

He waved him off, "I'm fine, the pirates did try and heal me. you need to sleep."

"I wasn't talking about the ones on your body, those are fine, but have been reopened slightly. I do need to stitch those up too… no, I'm more worried about those ones." He pointed to Ace's wings.

Ace was laying on his stomach on the wooden floor and hadn't gotten up to look over his aching wing yet, they hurt. He didn't want to touch them or move them in any sort on manner and make it worse.

"what one…s… oh… _those_ one." Ace said as he looked up at his wings, being careful not to more Luffy too much in the action. The orange and red appendages were bent at weird and unnatural angles, blood coating most of the feathers with its oozing stickiness. "well, that explains why they hurt so much."

Sabo sighs, "I'm going to have to go back to our ship to get some stuff. I can't fix that otherwise."

"no." Ace interrupts, "don't go out there alone. Who knows what the pirates will do to you? I can put my wings away and we can go there together."

Sabo sighed, "trust me, I am just as reluctant as you are to go back out there. I don't think you should even try to put your wings away when they're like that, it would probably break them more than they already are, so your stuck here until I say otherwise." Sabo says sternly, knocking down all his suggestions.

Ace huffs, "well, you're not going out there then."

Sabo puts his hands on his hips, "yeah, and how are you going to stop me?" he said, walking to the door.

Ace tries to move but is trapped by Luffy's hands wrapped around his waist. He is pinned. After a few moments of painful struggle, he gave up and sighs to his brother, "fine. You can go, just stay safe!" he yells.

Sabo smiles at his brother, turning away to hide his brown and yellow eyes, the colors of fear and anxiety. He didn't want to go out there, not with those kidnapping pirates, but he had no choice if he wanted to fix his brother. Sabo wasn't really afraid of what they would do to him, he was more afraid of what could happen to his brothers when he left. Luffy was asleep and Ace was severely injured, not the best conditions to protect themselves.

He grabbed his pipe from where it was wedged in the door handle, preventing it from opening. "make sure to hide if someone comes near the door, okay?" he smirks to his brother, doing an expert job at hiding his emotions. With his hat shadowing his eyes Ace couldn't even see that to help him.

If he did, he would've never let Sabo go out there.

"I will." Ace rolled his eyes.

Sabo slipped out of the room, closing the door quickly behind him.

Ace looked over to Luffy, who was snoring softly into his side. Ace was laying on his stomach so his wings don't get crushed and he didn't particularly want to move with how much pain that causes. So, they can just stay there, bent at incorrect angles until Sabo came back to fix them.

Seeing that not all of Luffy's cuts and bruises had been healed from before, Ace set his hand on fire and stated slowly moving his hand around his back. Luffy can absorb the heat even in his sleep, thus healing him.

Ace closed his eyes when he finished, there was no way he would fall asleep, but it was easier to check on Sabo with his Haki if his eyes were shut. It was just easier to concentrate for him.

He was nearing their boat, being careful to avoid everyone while making sure not to get lost. Navigating through the larger boat was made a lot easier with his practice of traveling through the labyrinth Luffy called home. It's a lot easier to keep track of where he is.

* * *

Sabo ducked behind the hallway, waiting for the pair of sailors to pass him before continuing. He was about to reach the deck so he was going to need as much espionage as he can muster, luckily enough, he was the best at it out of the three of them. Ace and Luffy proffered to go in guns blazing straight through the front door. he supposed it was a part of his nature to stay in the shadows. unlike his brothers.

He peeked out the window. There were a lot more people out there then he first realized. He probably won't be about to get through them all and off the side railing before someone noticed him.

Sabo sighed. He might as well try, right?

He opened the door, slinking off to the side and closing it behind him. he ducked behind some barrels as he looks around for anyone who might have seen him. no one did. everyone on deck was facing the same way, towards the Captain. He was giving a speech or something, he wasn't really paying attention to it, more focused on his route to their ship. To tired to care.

He crouched forward, eyeing a set on barrels on the other side of the deck next to a pile of rope, it was the closest cover. He bit his lip, there was at least thirty meters between the two. This was going to be hard.

He knew running would attract the eye, movement always does that, so he slowly stood up from where he was before walking towards the barrels at a calm and composed pace. Sometimes, growing up with nobles does help, not that he would ever admit it. he kept his face down and avoided eye contact but watched anyone and everyone nearby for the first indication of noticing something off. He was about halfway when someone saw him. it was the bread hair guy who was on deck before, the one who didn't understand why they hate them from the bottom of their hearts, _one of the commanders, fourth division, Thatch_, his mind supplied. He did a fair amount of research on the whitebeard pirates before allowing Ace to challenge one of his allies, he wouldn't jump into any situation unprepared.

Thatch didn't tell anyone that he saw him, well, he might have mentioned it to the pineapple, _also a commander, first division, Marco the phoenix, _but didn't look like he did. After a few seconds, Thatch got up from where he was listening to their captain and walked towards him, Sabo quickened his pace slightly, just enough that it wouldn't be noticeable. He didn't have far to go, and he didn't believe that anyone else saw him, so he quickly traversed the last few meters in a dash, silently landing behind the barrels as he hid.

A glance up showed that no one saw him, except for bread hair dude – who was coming directly towards him. Sabo grimaced but did move forward to look for an easy way to the railing – it wasn't far. After a not so thorough inspection of the immediate surroundings, he decided to just walk up to it and jump overboard before anyone else noticed.

He got about halfway before bread hair guy jumped in front of him, "hey! My names Thatch, what's yours?" he smiled.

Sabo kept his face blank, "that is none of your concern." Sabo tried to walk past him, but thatch moved to get in his way. he glared at the commander with orange eyes. Okay, so maybe he was a tad angry, not his fault. He kept the rest of his face composed, calm and dignified though.

Thatch only smiled before moving out of his way, "fine, don't tell me." he said with a grin, "so, what'cha doing Mr. none-of-your-concern?" he said with mock exaggeration.

Sabo walked past him, looking over the railing to spot their boat just where they put it. attached to the side of the ship, ready for an easy escape. Not that they can use it right now, they don't break promises. Or deals. It goes against Luffy's will as a dragon. so they cant leave yet.

"nothing you need to trouble yourself with." He answered, trying to get Thatch off his back. he just wanted to get his stuff, go back and fix Ace's wings, and sleep. He has been awake too long to bother with manners or being overly polite right now. Not that he wouldn't make the effort, but that's beside the point. He glared at thatch once more before jumping off the ship and onto their much smaller vessel.

When he landed, he looked up to see thatch jump off the larger ship too, he grits his teeth in anger and annoyance, why does he want to follow him? why can't he just leave him alone? Why did they have to steal his brother? All these thoughts sped through his mind as he made his way below deck.

If thatch wanted to follow him, then so be it. he didn't look like he wanted to kill him at least. But if he does… Sabo brought a hand up to grab his seastone pipe. He could always do it fir- No! he can't do that. It would only endanger them all. he would only act out of self-defense. Probably.

"so, since I've already come this far, what are we doing?" thatch asked. he was right behind him.

Sabo sighed, calming down so his eyes returned to a light blue. "still none of your business."

The commander pouted like a child, "aww, but I wanna know."

"don't care."

He used his best version of the puppy dog eyes, but after growing up with luffy, Sabo has a large resistance to them. "_please_." Thatch begged.

"go away." Sabo said before walking further into the ship, leaving thatch to pout behind him before following like a lost puppy.

The head chef of the Moby dick sighed, "look, kid, we didn't mean for this misunderstanding. We really meant no harm to any of you three. Can you give us a second chance?" he asked, no longer acting like a little kid but more like a responsible adult acting on behalf of his crew.

"And why would we do that? You stole our eldest and attacked Luffy and I. why would we ever give you a second chance?" He said simply, walking into their room to pick up Ace's watermelon bag and his narcolepsy pills. Thatch didn't say anything as Sabo put the medicine in the bag but did take interest in it. _damn, he would remember that and tell the others. Just what they need._ He thought sarcastically.

"and we're sorry. We even returned him." he added with a cheeky grin.

"under threat of a burnt deck." Sabo retorted, making the head chef laugh a little. Sabo glared at him and he stopped.

There was silence between them for a moment before the chef asked, "do you have a bird?"

Sabo froze. He glanced the way Thatch was, only to see a small pile of feathers where Ace last preened himself. He hadn't gotten around to cleaning it up yet, for obvious reasons.

"No." he replied hesitantly. If he said they had a bird, Thatch would ask were it was, if he said no, the chef would ask where the feathers came from.

"were did the feathers come from?"

called it.

It took Sabo a few seconds to come up with a decent lie, but once he had it, he spoke without hesitation or worry, "there was a bird who visited our ship often from the last island. I think he just didn't want to put up with all the fighting."

Thatch blinked in surprise, honestly not expecting a proper answer from the blond. Everything he's asked has been met with a short decline to answer.

"must have been a pretty big bird." He noticed; the feathers were almost as large as his forearm.

Sabo didn't respond.

The blond stuffed a spare set of clothes for all three of them in the bag before leaving the room, locking the door behind them. he didn't want any of the other crew coming to investigate, this was only precautions. He locked all the other doors he came across as well. He didn't really know why he insisted a lock on every door when they got the ship build, but now he's thankful.

"you don't have to lock the doors; we won't intrude on your ship." Thatch said calmly as he watched the blond lock a fourth door, this one lead to a kitchen.

Sabo rolled his eyes at the chef, "you're doing it right now."

Thatch hummed, "maybe, but that's only because you're here. I had to make sure you wouldn't run away." He smiled, earning a glare from the sleep deprived teen.

"and leave my brothers here? I don't think so." He explains, walking into the infirmary.

Thatch stuck his tongue at him, like a little kid. "true. Hey, um, what are we doing here? I though the doctors did a pretty good job fixing up Fire Fist, and you two aren't that injured, are you?"

Sabo rolled his eyes, "And? That means nothing. Besides, I do not trust your doctors." He said as he grabbed a large wad of bandages and put them in the watermelon bag. He them moved over and picked up a strange metal contraption thatch didn't have a chance at even guessing the use. Sabo put it in the bag as well.

"what's that thing?" he asked confused, he had never seen anything like it. the contraption looked foldable.

"a metal thing of little importance to you." In fact, the metal contraption was a splint for Ace's wings. He made it a few years back when Ace crash landed and broke his wing in two places. He got fed up with using typical splits that never fit quite right and decided to make his own. It was foldable and inconspicuous, but when it was needed – like now – it opened and locked into place so it can support the wing. It was very useful. He had one for each wing.

"what's it used for then?" thatch asked, changing the question in the hope that Sabo would answer it now. it didn't work.

"to make you ask question. It appears to be working."

Sabo moved to a shelf on the wall and grabbed some antiseptic, a sterile needle and a soft cloth to clean the wings with. Thatch didn't ask about them, he knew their use. The blond put them in the bag and moved to a fridge. It was his replacement for a cold room, he didn't have one of those nor did he really need one. A fridge was good enough.

The fridge was filled with blood bags and bottles of certain things. he grabbed a bottle of anaesthetic to numb the wound and a blood bag for himself. He was still injured, and he was a bit hungry, it had been two weeks since he last drank blood. He put both in the bag and luckily Thatch didn't question it.

Thatch sighed as Sabo led them out of the room, locking it behind him. "can you at least tell me your name?"

Sabo gave him an icy glared as he led him around the rest of the ship to lock every other room on board. As well as turning the engine off, there was no need to have it on right now, it took power produced by the heat pad on deck and converted it into forward motion. at least thatch couldn't understand its use, if he did, he would question how the hell they caught up with their much bigger boat. their boat was mostly flame powered, and without Ace – the living flame – it would bring up question on how they got it moving.

Thatch didn't even give the engine a second glance before following Sabo out.

The blond sighed, "fine, but only if you promise not to ask another private question." Thatch nodded with a smile, Sabo continued, "Dracule D. Sabo. not nice to meet you."

Names were a funny thing between the three boys. Ace didn't accept his birth one at first and took the maiden name of him mother, Portgas. Now he just uses it because the government forces know the name Gol but not Portgas, it was easier to remain safe and hidden. Luffy only ever had a first name until Garp came around and demanded for him to take his name. Luffy's resistance against it was minimal at best. and for Sabo, he refused to use his last name, it connected him to those evil men who gave their own son away to slavery. His brothers had demanded he get a name, just 'Sabo' sounded lame, so in the spur of the moment he asked Mihawk if they could share his – there was no way he was taking the last name 'Monkey' from Garp. Mihawk had rolled his eyes at their antics but let him keep the name anyway. They added the D. just because.

Besides, it sounded cool.

Thatch grinned at him, not making the connection to the Warlord, "nice to meet you Sabo, I hope we can get along in the future."

"I hope we do not." he said, not as politely. He isn't normally this bad, but he wasn't going to fix it. These pirates stole his brother.

Thatch shrugged. "to each their own. Anyway, are any of you three boys hungry? As the head chef of the Moby Dick it's my job to make sure no one goes hungry."

Sabo doesn't answer. the truth way, they were all starving, except maybe Ace, but he doesn't count he's been hooked up to nutrition cords and IVs. Sabo can't cook and has been surviving off Jam bread, and Luffy absolutely refused to eat no matter what until just a few hours ago. So yeah, they were hungry.

"we'll get food later." He said instead. He didn't really want to take charity off these pirates, but with their current situation, they may not have a choice. sure, he could probably grab a few snacks now, but he wont be able to carry anywhere near as much as he needs to feed a hungry luffy.

The head chef clapped his hands as they walked on deck of the small ship, "well we can't have that. I'll go make something for you and leave it outside of your room. don't worry, I won't peak inside, Marco told us you would leave if we did."

Sabo looked at him, "we will not eat it." That's a lie, they need food, no matter where it came from.

Thatch pouted, "why not?" he looked like a kicked puppy denied of basic life necessities.

"we don't trust you." Sabo stated, only making the chef pout more. "besides, you could have poisoned it."

He looked affronted, "poison!? Why in the world would I do that!? I'm a chef, and as a chef, I do not poison my food! It's to be eaten, not _poisoned._" Thatch ranted before calming down and grinning up at him as they both climbed up the side of the Moby Dick, someone had been kind enough to throw a ladder down for them. Sabo didn't question it; he was just too damn tired.

"I'm going to make it anyway." He said as he reached to top of the ladder.

Sabo stayed silent, walking away from the annoying chef and back to his room. thatch didn't follow, instead going off to join the other commanders. If the chef did end up making them food, he wasn't going to complain. Luffy needed food, they just had to make sure it wasn't poisoned first.

Sabo didn't even try to hide from the pirates on his way back to his room, they made it obvious that they knew he was up here – the ladder was a dead giveaway – so he might as well not care. He walked through the hallways, not caring in the slightest who saw him anymore.

When he reached their room, he knocked twice to let Ace know it's him, "Ace, I'm coming in." he called before opening the door. The Fae was still laying on his stomach and Luffy was still asleep with his arms wrapped around his waist. Luffy looked to be better than before; Ace must have given him some fire. Sabo smiled at them and Ace responded in kind.

"welcome back. you didn't do a very good job at hiding on your way back." Ace stated, he had kept his haki focused on Sabo the entire way. Just to make sure the pirates didn't try and off him.

Sabo nodded as he closed the door behind him, jamming it with his Pipe again. "Yeah, well, I'm tired and they already found out I was there. I saw no need to sneak past them. They probably have Haki too, or at least the higher-ranking members."

"and the guy who followed you through our ship?"

"the fourth division commander. He didn't do anything suspicious, but I locked all the doors anyway. Don't want anyone else on our ship. Also got you these." He said, grabbing the narcolepsy pills and shaking them before putting them back in the bag. He grabbed the blood bag and pierced two holes in it with his fangs. glorious blood filled his mouth, the usual rush flooded his body, healing whatever cuts or bruises he had before, and sort of appeased his sleepiness.

"thanks…you okay?" Ace asked as Sabo got closer, his eyes were filled with concern for the Vampire.

"yeah. I'm fine." Sabo refused to make eye contact. He really didn't want to go back out into the crowd of Pirates without his brothers ever again. not when they don't trust them and don't know what they will do. Too many people with too many knives. And his back was wide open.

"look at me Sabo, I know you're not okay."

"I'm fine, Ace. Stop worrying so much."

"I've lived with you for most of my life. I know how to read you, now tell me what's wrong?" he asked sternly.

Sabo rolled his eyes, "it's nothing."

"no, it's not, your eyes are yellow."

The Vampire grinned at him, forcefully calming himself down so his anxiety would dissipate, and his eyes would return to their calm light blue. "there, all better." He said as he took out the bottle of antiseptic, wash cloth, needle and bottle of aesthetics. He unwrapped the needle and put the aesthetics in it before jabbing it at the base of Ace's left wing. "roll onto your side." Sabo commanded.

Ace compiled, rolling onto his side as his left wing became numb and flopped onto the floor, his right wing still hurt a lot as he held it in the air but he ignored it; Sabo would get to it later. Luffy still clung to him in his deep sleep, not even noticing that they moved. his sleeping face was cute to the older pair, even if he drooled a bit.

"it's not 'all better.' Just tell me what's wrong." Ace said as Sabo washed his wings off. When he was injured were one of the few times Ace ever lets anyone else touch his wings. It always felt weird when someone else touched them, so he limited the contact as much as he could. Luckily, with the aesthetics, he couldn't feel a thing from his left wing.

"it's just stress. That's all, nothing important." Sabo relented as he moved to bend Ace's bones back into place. The aesthetics were strong enough that Ace didn't feel a thing even as his bones were realigned. With that done, Sabo grabbed one of the metal contraptions, this one labelled L, and tying it to the base of Ace's wings before opening it. he moved the wing, so it was in line with the splint. He tied the wing to it in certain places before bandaging the entire thing up.

"and why are you stressed?" Ace continues as he moved a hand through Luffy's hair.

Sabo sighed, finishing up with the left wing. "you were stolen, Luffy refused to eat, or sleep and it got to me. I'm tired and we're all stuck here for the next two months because it was the only way I could get us out of there. We're with strangers who _Luffy_ is afraid of. He said they were strong, and he is afraid of that. He is a _dragon_, Ace, not much is stronger them that. There are 16 people on this ship who could hurt us, _all_ of us. And I just-" he closed his eyes, placing a hand on his head, "why did you put up the fire wall? We could have saved you before any of this mess happened." He asked after a few moments of silence.

Ace pulled Sabo into a hug, it was slightly awkward with Luffy around his waist and him of the floor with two wings coming out of his back, but they managed. "it's okay. I'm here, Luffy's here. We're all going to make it out of this. None of this is your fault. Okay?" he said as he comforted his younger brother. He neglected telling Sabo an answer to his question.

They may not show it often, but Sabo did rely on Ace when things got bad. Ace was like their own personal safety in the dark, for both him and Luffy. They always went to the Fae if they wanted someone to lean on or just someone to talk to. He was their roof. He protected them. Not that either of them would admit to it, that would be embarrassing, and tease worthy.

Sabo is the foundation, Luffy is their pillar, and Ace is their roof. That's how it's always been. Sabo set the groundwork, Luffy held them all together, and Ace is always there for them, covering and protecting them – not that they would ever admit it. – Luffy was their hope, Ace was their support and Sabo was their logic.

Sabo nodded as he held Ace tight. After living with Luffy nearby almost all the time, the other two picked up some of his stranger habits, like huge attachments to each other. Physical attention, especially hugs, were always welcome. They were perfectly fine with splitting up and doing other things without the presence of their brothers, but they would always rush back to each other's sides in the event of an emergency. With Ace being forcefully taken, it didn't do anything positive for their mental health. Although, Sabo did adapt to it slightly better than Luffy did.

"just… don't ever do that again." He mumbled. Ace nodded.

"I won't. I promise." Ace said with certainty. And the brothers never broke their promises. "I won't leave you, not again." He hugged his brothers tightly.

Sabo just nodded and hugged him back as silent tears ran down his cheek.

It wasn't much longer when Sabo leaned back and grinned up at his brother, wiping away any traces of tears that he definitely didn't shed, "I should probably fix your other wing now."

Ace grinned right back, "damn right you should, it hurts like hell."

Sabo laughed as he stood up, cleaning the needle and injecting the other wing with aesthetics. "roll over." He commanded. As soon as Ace did so, he got started. Sabo cleaned and fixed this wing much the same as the other one and it wasn't long before Ace was laying there with two strung up wings, bandaged and fixed, behind him.

Sabo yawned.

"I think it's about time you got some rest." Ace grinned at him. Sabo didn't even try to argue against it as he took his place next to Luffy. Ace threw a hand over him as well, Luffy safely between them. They would never let anything happen to Luffy.

"yeah…" Sabo was out like a light. Ace stayed awake to keep watch and make sure no pirates came in here, even if they jammed the door. After a few hours with nothing happening, Ace slowly started to drift off.

Then there was a knock at the door.

"hey, um, I made you some food, so I'll just leave it out here. Sabo said you wouldn't eat it, but I said I would make it anyway, so yeah. Eat it, don't eat it. Just make sure you don't go hungry." Someone said through the door. Ace didn't answer and quietly waited for the person to leave.

He appreciated that the pirate went out of his way to make them something to eat even after being told that they wouldn't eat it, it showed that they might actually care. 'Might' being the key word. It could also be a trap and be poisoned.

"hey, Sabo, wake up." He said, lightly shaking the other teen.

The blue clad teen groaned, rolling over on his back, placing a hand over his eyes, "…m'eah?"

"a guy named Thatch just came by and made us some food."

Sabo slowly stood up. "oh, right. He said he would…" the blond yawned before slowly rising to is feet and walking over to the door. He expertly unhooked his pipe from the door and opened it a tiny bit, checking to see if anyone was nearby. Finding no one, the blond opened the door slightly more and took the three large bowls of hot, steamy stew in along with a napkin and cutlery. He placed the bowls not far away from Ace and Luffy before placing his pipe back the way he found it.

Taking an experimental sniff, the Vampire said, "I don't smell anything funny with it, other than it being very well cooked." Ace hummed as he slowly sat up, realigning Luffy so he sat in his lap.

"mmm, I'll be the judge of that." He looked quizzical at Sabo, "should we really eat it? It could be poisoned."

Sabo shook his head, "that's not the main issue right now, the issue is that we can't leave here until your wings heal enough to hide them, so we can't really get our own food – whether it be from theft or fishing or just our own stock on our boat. We don't really have much of a choice right now."

Ace scowled, the pirates have them trapped. They had to eat if they wanted to live, but they really didn't want to eat their cooking. "we'll have Luffy check it first." Sabo nodded.

Ace shook their younger brother slightly, "hey Luffy, there's food."

"food?" was a mumbled reply.

Ace and Sabo shared a glance, if Luffy was this unresponsive to the normal mentioning of food then Ace's kidnapping affected him a lot worse than they expected. Or anticipated.

"food!" Luffy cheered, realising that he had both brothers with him now, so it was perfectly fine to eat.

Or not.

"yeah, this ship's chef made it. We need to check if it's poisoned first."

At first Luffy pouted, before he jumped up, dragging Ace along with him, to the three bowls of soup. He carefully sniffed each of them, looking for even the faintest traces of any sort of tampering or poisoning, as well as Kumar berries – Ace and Sabo showed him one once, so he knows what not to eat. He knows not to eat anything that smells like that, it would be very bad.

Finding absolutely nothing wrong with the bowls of stew, he picks up a spoon and takes a bit on the middle one.

"it's safe then?" Ace asked as he watched his youngest brother shrug and take a bite of the delicious smelling food.

Luffy smiled, climbing into his older brother's lap. "it's really yummy!" he cheered, prompting Sabo and Ace to take a bowl and spoon for themselves.

"better them mine?" Ace asks as he takes his own spoonful of stew, getting more than a few chunks of something – probably meat.

Luffy shook his head, "na'ah! Ace's food is the best!" he declared, raising the rim of the bowl to his lips before guzzling all of it down in one go. He was hungry and one bowl wasn't going to state his needs. He needed more.

But he had more control then that. He knew Sabo was just as hungry as him and that Ace's been a prisoner here much longer than them, and that they needed to eat as well, so he can control himself. For now.

Ace copied his actions, drinking it all down in one go. It was very delicious, not that they would tell the chef that. These thieving, kidnapping pirates don't deserve any sort of praise like that. Especially not from their captives.

Sabo grinned, "it comes a close second though."

Ace scowled at him as the blond finished up in his meal, Sabo may have more manners then them, but not when in front of his brothers, and definitely not when food was involved. He can be just as savage when it comes to meals as his brothers.

"are you implying my cooking is not as good as this guy's?" Ace accused; eyes narrowed.

Sabo's eyes played a light green, at first it was believed just to be enthusiasm or energy, but the ravens quickly figured out it also represents humour or amusement. "maybe." He answered noncommittedly.

Ace glared at his brother, punching him in the shoulder, "traitor." Sabo gasped at that. "yeah, that's right. I called you a traitor." Ace said smugly, "Luffy, Sabo's a traitor."

Luffy blinked at his older brother, "huh? Why?"

"because I said so."

"okay. Sabo, are you a traitor?" Luffy tilted his head to the side.

"nope." Sabo crossed his arms proudly.

Luffy looked even more confused now, "huh? But Ace said you're a traitor. But your saying you're not?"

Sao nodded, "yep. Ace was lying, I could never betray you two." He smiled. He and ace knew this was all a joke, and probably Luffy too, but that was up in the air.

Luffy smiled, laughing softly, "Sabo's not a traitor, he's our brother." He declared as if it's the simplest thing in the world, "and brothers don't bedrail brothers!"

"betray, Luffy." Sabo corrected automatically.

"that's what I said." Luffy smiled.

Ace collected the empty bowls and handed them over to Sabo, who unlocked the door and placed them outside before jamming the door with his pipe again.

"anyways, I think we should get some more rest now. Ace should be all better in two days, but that's really only if he _stays in bed_ the entire time." He glared at Ace, who had a habit of running away from him halfway through his treatment because he felt better or got bored – even if luffy stayed with him the entire time. There is only so many luffy stories one can hear back to back.

Ace lay down on his side, wings behind him held in place, Luffy curled up in his arms and Sabo on his other side. Their youngest sandwiched between the Vampire and Fae. They would always be there for him, no matter the cost.

* * *

The next morning, Luffy was the first up.

He moved closer to Ace in his half-awake-half-asleep state, Ace was warm. yesterday's memories slowly caught up with him. Ace being taken, their terrible rescue, the deal, Ace's wings, getting their older brother back, and eating the stranger's food – which wasn't poisoned!

A glance behind him showed that Sabo was also safe, and asleep, and a glance to the door showed that no one had been in their while they rest.

Luffy sat up and looked around the room, there wasn't much, if anything in here. It was supposed to be a storage room, so it was understandable, but it was very bleak. He spotted the watermelon bag Ace owns and smiled at it. Watermelons were yummy, maybe he could have one later.

His stomach growled at the thought.

"ne, ne, ne." he said as he shook Ace awake, when he was, luffy continued, "I'm hungry."

Ace moved to rub his eyes, "mhm." He hummed. It was usual for Luffy to be hungry in the mornings, just as it was usual for Luffy to be hungry at every other time of day. "yep. Wake Sabo up." He said as he roused himself from sleep.

Sleeping on the floor wasn't as uncomfortable as most people would first assume, at least not to them, they were used to it. None of them were sore or restless from the uncomfortable sleeping position, except Ace, but that was because of his injured wings more than anything else.

Ace's wings were no longer numb, and feeling had returned to them in his sleep, they were sore but didn't hurt as much as before. He couldn't move them, not with the splint on, but they felt better already. He wouldn't touch them though; he knew better than anyone not to mess with whatever Sabo's done with it. He would have to stay like this until Sabo said otherwise, as annoying as that was.

Sabo was the doctor; he knew these things better than him. just as Sabo listened to him when it came to cooking or anything relating to food or how both of them let Luffy make transaction because it is almost second nature for a dragon to get out of being swindled. And with luffy, they sometimes got a discount because he's cute.

"ne, ne, ne." Luffy said as he shook Sabo awake. It took a little bit longer for the Vampire to wake up then Ace. "wake up, wake up."

"I'm up, I'm up." Sabo mumbled as he rolled away from the hyperactive teen. He almost fell asleep again before Luffy landed on him, demanding him to wake up again.

Before long, all three boys were awake listening to Luffy's hungry stomach growl. Said teen had no embarrassment on his face as his stomach made noises demanding all sorts of food.

Luffy smiled at his brothers, "I'm hungry." He reiterated.

Ace nodded, "I know. I heard you the first time." He was still half asleep as he climbed to his feet. "it just that we don't have any food until that chef comes by to give us some. And I'm not letting either of you go out their alone until my wings heal." Ace narrowed his eyes at his littlest brother. He knew as much as Sabo that the kid can't leave his emotional attachments until he's 25, it was sometimes annoying, but at times like this it made Luffy ready to agree with pretty much everything they said.

Luffy nodded. "Ace and Sabo aren't going anywhere. They're my treasures." He nodded sagely as if that explained everything. It didn't, but that was only to strangers. To them, it made perfect sense.

"so, how long do you think it'll be?" Sabo asked as he stood up and did some stretches, he was still tired, but it was much better than before.

Ace shrugged, "could be anywhere between a minute or two to a few hours. It's anyone's guess."

Luffy laughed his usual 'shishishishi' laugh, "so we wait for him to bring food." His megawatt smile lit up the room.

If Thatch really didn't want them to go hungry, he would obviously bring them meals, all the time, dinner, breakfast and lunch. It's just a matter of if he cares or not.

"I should check in case he's already been here already." Sabo said as he leaped towards the door. Ace went to the other side of the room so he wouldn't be seen by anyone if they looked in through the door – even though he can tell that no one's there. Luffy went with him.

Sabo unjammed the door, holding his pipe in his hand and opened the door slightly. In front of him were the three-empty bowls from last night, they hadn't been removed yet, so the chef obviously hasn't been through here yet.

"there's only the bowls from last night. Breakfast isn't here yet." He called as he shut the door.

Luffy pouted as Sabo jammed the door again. They didn't have a lock, so this was the next best thing.

"and now we wait." Ace said as he walked over to his watermelon bag. He took out his narcolepsy pills, "I'm fine to take these again, right?" he asked Sabo. Sometimes after he got injured, he wasn't allowed to eat them because it would mess up whatever drug or injection Sabo gave him beforehand.

"yeah, it's been long enough. The anesthetics should be out of your system by now." Sabo replied.

Ace took two of them and put the bottle away, taking out a deck of cards they've had since they were kids.

"who's up for a game while we wait?"

"but I'm hungry." Whined Luffy.

"we won't be able to get any food until the chef comes around to give us breakfast. Just wait, it shouldn't be too long." Sabo explained as he sat down across from Ace.

The freckled teen shuffled the deck as he waited for his brother to sit down. Luffy sighed and sat down with them.

They played a few games of go fish before Ace placed his cards down and motioned towards the door. Luffy and Sabo were quick on the uptake and moved towards the door.

Thatch knocked on the door, "hey, um kids. I see that you ate dinner, thank you. Was it good? did you like it? Anyway, um, I have breakfast here for you, if you want… so yeah." Thatch says to the non-responsive door.

Sabo says, "we're going to need more food than that." And it was true, the large bowl each that they had last night was little more than a bite sized snack. They were still hungry, practically starving now that they are focusing on it, and that little pittance amount will do nothing to sate the need. or at least, not for Ace and Luffy. Sabo was mroe or less okay for now.

"huh? What do you mean? I got a plate for all of you, was it not any good?" thatch asked, sounding very sad, and possibly hopeful.

Luffy jumped in, "it was good. Yummy food! But not enough. I'm still hungry." He pouted.

Sabo ruffled the younger teens hair comfortingly, making Luffy jump out of his pout and beamed up at Sabo.

Thatch made a sound which they translated as putting the plates on the ground, "ahh, okay then, how much food, in plates, do you think you would eat?" he asked instead, taking the conversation very seriously.

"fifty!" Called out Luffy.

Sabo shook his head, "no luffy, you haven't been eating properly these last few days, we don't want you getting sick. We'll have 5 plates each, if that's available." Sabo said, smirking to himself as thatch gasped in surprise, he probably thought they were weird or strange now that their usual diet is revealed. Most people who see them eat, act as though they were the plague, or maybe just a disgusting human with no hygiene. Which isn't true, they have very good hygiene, Sabo made sure of it.

"five plates!?" thatch yelled, startling some of the people in hearing range, there weren't many, Ace checked. "that means I've been starving you with the one! Haven't I?" he yells in distress. Five plates weren't that many, if possible, Sabo would've proffered a number higher than twenty each (though, most of his plates will end up going to Ace and Luffy. He didn't need to eat as much as them) but he knew better than anyone not to push their luck. They were prisoners, not guests, and while the pirates are willing to play along with that idea, it wasn't fooling anyone.

Sabo blinked, but retained his calm face, doubly making sure his voice says level. He didn't want the pirate knowing his surprise – because that's what it is, surprise. What sort of person happily feeds their prisoners lots of food? He could understand a plate or two at every meal, there wasn't much being lost, but _five_ _per person_ every meal is a bit much. Even if they were used to a _lot_ more. "yes, yes we have." He admits evenly.

Thatch's voice was muffled slightly like he was running his hand over his face in distress or disappointment in oneself, "oh god, I've failed as a chef. I noticed you guys were starving, or at least very hungry, but then I just made it worse." Thatch groaned before making a more determined grunt. "okay, I'll leave this _part _of breakfast here and you guys can eat it while I got make 12 more plates of food. See ya!" he called as he walked speedily down the hallway.

When Ace signals the all clear, Sabo opened the door and quickly grabbed the food, closing the door behind him. Luffy checked the food for any sort of poisoning or tampering, finding nothing.

The single plates each of bacon, eggs and toast disappears before they blink, Luffy somehow managing to steal some off the older brothers plates in that time, they allowed it, since he eats the most out of them and has eaten the least recently. Besides, they might be able to get a good meal or two if that Chef guy made them a few more plates of food.

The three left the plates by the door before going back to their game of cards.

"do you have a red eight?" Luffy asked, furrowing his brows.

Ace sighed, "you've asked that question four times in a row now, pick a different number."

Sabo laughed softly, "but that would ruin all our fun, after all, it's what makes Luffy so easy to beat."

Luffy pouted, crossing his arms and looking at the furthest corner from them, "it's not my fault this game is hard."

Sabo patted the raven's head, "don't worry Luffy, this is one of the easiest games we could find, you'll get it eventually." He smiled.

Luffy beamed up at him before looking over his cards again with a concentrated frown. "do you have a black eight?" he asked instead.

Ace snorted, "do you only have eights?" he gestured to the four cards in his hand.

Luffy looked affronted, "wha-! How did you know!" he jumped to his feet in surprise. The other two people in the room blinked before bursting out laughing. Luffy _still_ hadn't figured out how to play the simple game they've been playing for over 7 years now – no matter how many times it gets explain to him.

And he didn't even realise he won. Not that they were going to tell him either.

Ace smiled, "you just told me." He said. Luffy gasped while he looked gobsmacked, covering his mouth with his hands to prevent himself from saying anything else.

"no, I didn't!" he said through his palm.

"yes, you did!" Ace stuck his tongue out at the fourteen-year-old.

"nope!"

"yes!"

"no-" luffy was cut off by a knock at the door. All three boys instantly tensed, Ace let his guard drop and someone managed to sneak up on them. They rose to their feet, approaching the door with caution, like it was going to suddenly jump out and attack them, Luffy moving closer to Ace.

"hi guys, it's me again, thatch." Thatch spoke, "so, I was wondering if you would open the door so I can give you the rest of breakfast? Oh, Marco's here too, I couldn't carry it all by myself no matter how good I am at balancing improbable numbers of plates."

"good morning." Marco said to the door.

Sabo glanced at Ace, the older raven putting two fingers up, Sabo sighed, there were only two people outside that door. They weren't lying, at least.

"thank you, but we aren't opening the door. Leave the food outside and we will grab it when you leave." he said. Sabo could practically feel the men frowning from behind the door.

Marco was the first to voice his disagreement. "why can't you open the door? You can't spend the next two months in there." He stated, retaining a calm demur in his voice. Sabo could tell he was slightly annoyed at them, and more than a little angry. People don't just help others; they always want something in return. The pirates could cut off their entire supply of food and they would be left starving until they could steal or fish their own food – which they can't do without revealing Ace's wings yet. It would be in their best interests to get on the pirate's good side, except they really don't want to be here. And if they do cut off their food, they can survive – it just means riskier trips to either their food stocks or the pirates.

"and we don't plan to, just the next couple of days. At a guess, maybe three more." Sabo estimated, Ace's wings needed time to heal – that should only take a day and a half – and then a day for some immaculate preening, cleaning and stretching to get the wings back into shape. It would be better if Ace could fly, but there was no chance of that happening while on the ship.

There was a pause outside before the thieving pirates spoke up, again, it was Marco. "any reason for the three days?"

Sabo hummed, "yes, there most certainly is a reason. You're just never going to find out." He said acutely with a tone that sounded both patronising and weirdly challenging at the same time. He loved using tones and speaking like that, it always made people unsure if he was insulting them or complimenting them, that, and his amazing poker face he spent years mastering. His brothers don't stand a chance – and they are probably the only people who could ever read him if he was trying.

Marco asked, "and why is that, yoi?"

"because we're never going to tell you. Just leave us alone for the next few days and we'll be out on deck then, just how you want it." He answered sarcastically.

Thatch sighed, "leave them alone, Marco. They only want their privacy for a bit, we can introduce ourselves properly later. Anyway," they heard the sounds of something heavy being placed near the door, "here's your food. Someone will come by with a mattress later, Jozu wanted to build a frame before we move it in here first."

"that's fine." Sabo agreed, they didn't really care much right now, they had other priorities – first food, then Ace's wings and finally Luffy's boredom. They did _not_ want to deal with a board Luffy, especially as they're on an enemy ship.

Marco huffed and placed his own stack of plates down, or at least what they assume to be stacks of plates. "fine, we'll leave you in peace, yoi. But I would like to know if Fire Fist is okay."

Sabo narrowed his eyes at the door, they probably don't suspect anything strange, but he didn't trust them, and he wouldn't tell them anything – at least not anything overly helpful.

"and why would you want to know that very specific piece of information?" he didn't keep the venom out of his voice.

The first division commander hummed in thought, "A few reasons, yoi. Are you going to answer?"

"no, as I do not know the reasons you wish to know for."

Marco sighed before explaining, "first off, the nurses seemed concerned about something, not sure what but it had something to do with really large bruises appearing out of nowhere, secondly neither thatch or I have heard him so much as peep since we've been here, and finally, he wasn't looking too well yesterday. We listened to you yesterday about the room, but it would be appreciated if you returned him to the care of the medical staff here on the Moby Dick so we can treat him." He said with a calm voice with underlaying annoyance.

Sabo's voice was sharp and stern, "that will not be necessary. Ace is fine." He glanced Ace, who was paying close attention to the conversation and looked like he was about to say something but was cut off by Marco.

"surly you don't have any sort of medical equipment in there, yoi. We could help you." He offered.

That was it for Ace, "shut up you dimwit! I'm fine! just leave us alone!" he shouted, annoyed at the enemy pirate. He had been silent because the three normally let Sabo control the conversations. He was frighteningly good at getting what he wanted. But the pirate was just pissing him off. How dare he insult his brother's skill.

Thatch piped up, "yay! The fire brats okay! Well, I'm ganna go now, make sure you eat and stuff. Oi, Marco! Your coming with me~!" the chef called in a sing-song tone.

"wha- hey!" the phoenix yelled as he was dragged away by the fourth commander – he seemed to take the hint, at least.

As soon as they were far enough away, Sabo opened the door and he and luffy grabbed the rest of breakfast. Just like he said, the chef made 12 more plates of food, not enough to sate the humanoids, but enough to get by. They checked them for poisoning or tampering before digging right in, savouring every wonderful flavour – even if it was made by the enemy who trapped them here.

* * *

It was a few hours later when someone new knocked on the door, the boys stopped playing their game of tag – luffy was getting a little restless – and became instantly alert.

"hey um… are you three in there? I'm Jozu, the third division commander, I have a bed here. I'm sure the floor isn't very comfortable, so, um, yeah… god, talking to a door is so weird… anyway, I'm also here to tell you of the storm on the horizon, it's really big but we will be able to get through it, we've dealt with worse. Um yeah, so don't be scared when it starts and stuff… well, I've got some things to do, so bye… I guess?" he ended weakly before walking off. As soon as he was far enough away, Sabo went out and dragged the mattress, bedding and pillows in, they didn't take the frame, they didn't really need it that much, besides, they just wanted something comfortable to lay on, they didn't care if it was in a] frame or not.

A frame can get in the way of Ace's wings.

"nice of him to warn us about the storm." Sabo commented sarcastically as he flopped onto the temporary bed.

Ace followed his example, while he had grown up in the woods and was used to sleeping on the ground, it doesn't mean he didn't appreciate beds and their softness – especially the pillows. The only difference with him is that his wings stood upright as he flopped, instead of going limp and spreading out. They were still wrapped up in bandages – much like the rest of him – but they were in a much better state them yesterday.

Most people underestimate the healing speeds of Fae. of course, scientist's only test subjects were underfed slaves denied of any human decency. And yes, while their healing rates were still higher than normal, they were much slower than they could be. A well fed, sleeping and unstressed Fae heals faster. Ace, finally having a semi-decent meal and with his brothers nearby, slowly drifted off into sleep. He needed to heal, and he always heals faster when he was sleeping.

Seeing his brothers getting ready for a nap – there wasn't much else to do in here except play cards, tag or nap – Luffy quickly piled whatever blankets and pillows he could around them, making a temporary nest and placed himself between his brothers. Both older ones wrapped an arm around him almost unconsciously. Luffy smiled at the contact, thriving off the comfort of his treasures. In this moment, everything just felt like it would be fine, that everything would turn out okay and they weren't in the middle of enemy territory, they were back in Luffy's cave. Home. They were safe.

* * *

**Tada! Chapter 8, also the second chapter of the main series. Anyway, hope you liked it, Review, Favorited Follow, whatever suits you. **

**Sorry for the late update, with everything going on in the world… I **_**may**_** have gotten a little distracted. Also, check out my new story called Eternity! It's great! Tho that may just be me boasting about it… oh well!**

**and yes, i do know that this chapter is very slow. not much happened. next chapter is more exciting!**

**See you next time!**


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